Stockholm, 19/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - EU ministers for e-government meeting in Malmö, Sweden, on 18 and 19 November, have pledged to develop smarter online public services for citizens and businesses by 2015. Swedish Communities and Financial Markets Minister Mats Odell, who hosted the meeting, said that the ministers wanted to work together to strengthen people's rights and create more transparent e-government.
In a joint statement published at the conference (the fifth ministerial conference on e-government), the ministers of the EU member states, candidate countries and EFTA states, some 34 countries in all, pledged to meet three targets by 2015 - to empower businesses and citizens through e-government services designed around users' needs, better access to information and their active involvement in the policy making process; to facilitate mobility in the single market by seamless e-government services for setting up business, for studying, working, residing and retiring in Europe; and to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of government services by reducing the administrative burden, improving organisational processes of administrations and using ICT to improve energy efficiency in public administrations which will result in a greater contribution to a sustainable low-carbon economy.
Mats Odell summarised the targets set out in the joint statement (a six-page document) as setting general priorities to make it easy to study in Stockholm, work in London and retire to Italy. He said the idea was also to made e-government easier and greener.
The European Commission welcomed “this step forward in making e-government more accessible, interactive and customised”. The Commission went on: “EU ministers outlined a joint vision and policy priorities on how this should be delivered. E-government is a key step towards boosting Europe's competitiveness, benefiting from time and cost savings for citizens and businesses across Europe”. “Today's declaration is another step in the right direction to further improve online public services for citizens and businesses. The commitment to shift from a 'one-size-fits-all' to a customised approach is more likely to meet users' needs and will open the path for more interactive and demand-driven public services in Europe", said Siim Kallas, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud. Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, added: "The Malmö declaration is an encouraging signal sent from member states towards the achievement of more effective cross-border services and the completion of the single market. For such services to become a reality for most citizens there is still more to be done. Achieving government savings in the current economic climate must be a priority. Better cross-border public services must be delivered even with fewer resources available so the investment made in e-government must be maximised. The lives of citizens and businesses can be made increasingly easier if they can benefit from efficient public services ranging from simple registration of life events such as births and residence, business services such as company registration and information or more sophisticated applications including those relating to tax, VAT or customs declarations."
The European Commission will also be contributing to these goals. In the second half of 2010, it will launch an action plan of tangible measures to meet the targets set out in the ministers' joint statement. Reding said that e-government is in fact already in place in Europe. A report on e-government commissioned by Viviane Reding in 2009 shows that 71% of the public services examined are fully available online, compared with only 59% in 2007. The commissioner recognised, however, that there are great differences between the member states when it comes to transparency and e-government. (S.B./transl.fl)