There was some discussion at FOSDEM on Saturday about how to get MEP interest in free software
One thing that appeared today is this report about corruption in public institutions throughout the EU: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26014387
Has any research been done to identify whether use of free software reduces the rate of corruption in IT projects and operational budgets? The complete elimination of licensing payments would theoretically eliminate one opportunity for bad things to happen both directly (e.g. purchasing features/seat licenses that are not really needed) and indirectly (e.g. opportunities for VAT fraud on license payments)