Brussels, 15/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 15 December, the European Commission presented an ambitious programme for promoting cooperation with the public authorities in an effort to help develop and improve online provision of services. The promotion of e-government helps strengthen European competitiveness and allows public authorities to provide better quality services at lower cost in a period of budgetary austerity, explained the Commission. This programme is the Commission's response to the appeal from certain member states to develop a common e-government policy, as stipulated in the ministerial declaration of Malmö (EUROPE 10024). The action plan includes 40 measures for implementation over the next five years, to help individuals and companies carry out online transactions. The commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, declared, “smarter spending does not have to mean getting less. ICT can actually transform and improve public services, while materially reducing government debt burdens. The role of the Digital Agenda is to support this holistically by getting rid of barriers to successful e-government”.
Last year, only 42% of European citizens had used e-government services. The European eGovernment Action Plan aims to support the transition to a new generation of open, flexible and seamless e-government services at local, regional, national and EU levels. It is an integral part of the objectives in the Digital Agenda to: 1) increase the use of e-government services to 50% of EU citizens and 80% of EU businesses by 2015; 2) ensure that a number of key public services are available online so that entrepreneurs can set up and run a business from anywhere within the EU independently of their original location and so that citizens can more easily study, work, reside and retire anywhere within the EU.
Online services must be able to function in other countries other than their countries of origin and subsequently pave the way for users in the long-term to play a pro-active role in the definition of online services adapted to needs. National governments will play a central role in the implementation of the action plan whilst the Commission's main responsibility is to improve the conditions for development of cross-border e-government services. This includes establishing pre-conditions, such as interoperability, e-signatures and e-identification. The action plan measures fall into four categories: user empowerment; the internal market; effectiveness and efficiency of online public services and implementation of conditions necessary for developing e-government. The action plan intends to put forward the following measures:
Implementing once-only secure registration of data with government (to avoid having to give the same information again and again to different parts of government);
Developing the EU-wide use of national electronic identities ("eID") to smooth cross-border procedures such as starting a company abroad, moving home or work abroad, arranging your pension online if you retire to another country, or registering at a foreign school or university;
Transparency: allowing citizens and business to see in real time the state of progress of their transactions with government thanks to more transparency and openness;
Customising services to respond better to users' real needs, such as ensuring the safe and fast digital delivery of documents and information;
Making data available for re-use by third parties so that new public services and applications can be developed, such as maps for navigation systems or travel information applications.
The Belgian presidency presents the “Citadel Statement” to support e-government
An action plan to support e-government in cities and local areas was presented during a conference organised by the Belgian presidency on 14 December in Ghent. The “Citadel Statement” is expected to go beyond the borders of the different member states and constitutes a red line with regard to the practical implementation and accomplishment of e-government projects. This directly follows on from the declaration of Malmö, which, in November 2009, provided the indications for e-government up to 2015. Julia Glidden from 21cConsultancy presented the action plan and explained that the Citadel Statement should help local authorities attain the targets set out. (I.L./transl.fl)