Missing Element in EU Open Source Strategy
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/en_ec_open_source_strategy_2020-2023.pdf
I have been doing free and open source software since 1997.
I read the EU OSS document. It is all very nice. I wish it would come true. But it misses a couple vital points.
The first point is that FOSS is generally led and developed by a very small number of people. These people have a focus on their particular problem. Most FOSS projects would be destroyed if all of the EU countries suddenly depended on a "hobby" project. They need to identify key projects that every country needs.
The second point is they missed the "money question". I have contacted businesses, governments, charities, universities, and philanthropists to ask for funding. I have tried the "patronage" model and even asked developers to contribute. So far I have raised $0 dollars.
FOSS development is not free. I estimate that I have spent about $3000 (US) dollars every year for the last 20 years. I have to buy hardware, pay for a net connection, attend conferences, and pay for a website. My time spent on fixing things or adding features for other people accounts for $0 of that.
After 50 years I have the benefit of meeting and getting advice from world-class experts. For one project, an email exchange is reasonable. For a whole EU project, this does not scale. You need to find a funding model.
The EU does have some funding efforts, like the NSF in the U.S. Of course, the NSF has rules like: "We will not give grants to projects that compete with existing proprietary products" and "We require a fiduciary organization (i.e. a university office to take 50% of the grant as 'overhead'".
I tried to get companies to create a "free accounting organization" that would receive and manage grant money at minimal overhead. Even that failed.
So this document is pretty. But it is obvious that it is just a daydream.