Dear Europe: Germany has shown the way forward
20 hours ago
- #Public Administration
- #ODF
- #Digital Sovereignty
- Germany mandates ODF as the standard document format within its digital infrastructure, embedding it in the Deutschland-Stack framework.
- The decision is backed by the federal government and coalition agreement, published by the IT-Planungsrat.
- ODF's maturity is established, being an ISO standard since 2006 with broad adoption globally.
- Common excuses against ODF (e.g., retraining costs, market standards) are debunked as outdated or politically motivated.
- European policies like EIF, CRA, NIS2, DORA, and IEA align with ODF adoption for sovereignty and interoperability.
- Several EU countries (France, UK, Netherlands, etc.) have already adopted or recommended ODF in public administration.
- Germany's comprehensive approach sets a model for integrating ODF into sovereign digital infrastructure.
- The Document Foundation offers support for adopting LibreOffice and ODF in public administrations.