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eEurope 2005

e-Government

Note: eEurope 2005 finished at the end of 2005.

Please note that these pages are archived and no longer updated.

For up to date information, please see the i2010 strategy website.

 

News

New report on e-government in the EU Member States, 27 June 2005

The e-Government Observatory has just published a report on "e-Government in the Member States of the European Union", providing the most extensive sum of information to date on the advancement of e-government in the enlarged EU. This report is the compilation of the e-Government Observatory Factsheets for the 25 EU Member States.

e-Government Benchmarking Report. See here for final report on the 5th measurement of the indicator for online availability of public services

Press Release

FAQ on e-Government benchmarking

Find out more on the e-Government Research and Development website

The Commission adopts a communication on the role of e-Government for Europe's future

Citizens and business welcome e-Government services (press release)

Introduction

e-Government promises to deliver better, more efficient public services and improve the relationship between citizens and their governments.  The resulting benefits to the quality of life, industrial competitiveness and society will only be realised, however, if administrations change the way they operate.  The Commission has just published a Communication setting out the state of play and charting the way forward. 

• European Milestones

• eEurope 2005 Targets

• Further Reading

Anyone who has ever spent a morning waiting in a queue in a government building can appreciate the difference which information and communication technologies (ICT) could make to their lives.

Adding ICT to government services, however, does not itself produce "e-Government" - new technologies must be implemented hand in hand with organisational change and new skills if convenient, service-oriented services are to flow.

If implemented correctly, however, e-Government offers much more than shorter queues:

• cost for both businesses and governments can be reduced, cutting the tax burden and boosting competitiveness;

• the public sector can be made more open and transparent, delivering governments which are more comprehensible and accountable to citizens, improving civic involvement in policy making and reinforcing democracy at every level across Europe;

• administrations can be made more user-centred and inclusive, providing 24/7 personalised services to everyone, no matter their circumstances or special needs.

 

European Milestones

While each national, regional and local government in Europe has its own needs, they can all learn from each others' experiences, stimulating the spread of best practices, standards development and a single, European market in e-Government systems.

There are also issues which need to be tackled at the European level, such as interoperability, privacy, security and accessibility - ensuring services are accessible to all citizens on a variety of platforms.  New cross-border services, finally, should be developed to support European policies such as freedom of movement and the environment.

e-Government was therefore one of the action lines of the original eEurope 2002 Action Plan, leading to the first e-Government Ministerial Conference in late 2001.  The eEurope 2005 Action Plan built on this, setting a number of targets (below) for all levels of European government.  Ministers assembled to discuss progress at the second e-Government Ministerial Conference in July, 2003.

The recently published Communication on e-Government from the 2003 Conference reflects the Ministerial Declaration from the 2003 Conference, and sets out the state of play, the issues concerned and a roadmap for future development.

On April 26, the Good Practice Framework on e-Government was launched. A temporary demo site has been built up as way of showing what the framework could be offering. It includes a description template, a set of assessment criteria, transfer tools and a database in which good practice cases are categorised according to their country, their theme, their user target and so on. The objective of the action is to establish a framework to facilitate the exchange of good practices, their transfer when appropriate and learning from experiences at local, regional, national, European and international level in order to foster strong commitment and continuity in the practical implementation of e-Government.

 

eEurope 2005 Targets

The eEurope 2005 Action Plan set the following targets:

• Interactive public services: By end 2004, Member States should have ensured that basic public services are interactive, where relevant, and accessible for all.  The Commission and Member States must agree on a list of public services for which interactivity and interoperability are desirable.  Relevant issues include exploiting the potential of broadband networks and multi-platform access, and addressing access for people with special needs;

• Public procurement: By end 2005 Member States should carry out a significant part of public procurement electronically, cutting costs and raising efficiency in government procurement.  The European Parliament and Council should adopt as quickly as possible the legislative package on procurement;

• Public Internet Access Points (PIAP's): All citizens should have easy access to PIAP's, preferably with broadband connections, in their communes or municipalities,  In establishing PIAP's, Member States should use structural funds and work in collaboration with the private and/or voluntary sector, where necessary;

• Broadband connections:  Member States should aim to have broadband connections for all public administrations by 2005.  Authorities should not discriminate between technologies when purchasing connections (see eEurope 2005/Broadband);

• Interoperability: The Commission presented a staff working paper on the importance of interoperability for e-Government services at the 2003 e-Government Ministerial Conference and intends to propose a European interoperability framework for pan-European e-Government services before the end of 2003;

• Culture and Tourism: The Commission, in co-operation with Member States, the private sector and regional authorities, will define and launch e-services to promote Europe and to offer user-friendly public information by 2005.  Building on the Communication "Working together for the future of European tourism", the Commission is now developing a European Tourism Portal;

• Secure communications between public services: By end 2003, the Commission and Member States will examine the possibilities to establish a secure communications environment for the exchange of classified government information.

See the TESTA network (Trans-European Services for Telematics between Administrations), rolled out by the Commission's IDA Programme

 

Further Reading

The European Commission carries out the following programmes to support e-Government:

• IST - Information Society Technologies: the largest of the seven 'thematic priorities' within the Commission's Framework Programme for Research (2003 - 2006).  See in particular:

• Networked businesses and governments;

• "Systems & Services for the Citizen" - a Key Action within the previous IST Research Programme (1998 - 2002);

• IDA - Interchange of Data between Administrations: using ICT to support rapid electronic exchange of information between Member State administrations across Europe, improving Community decision-making, facilitating the internal market and accelerating policy implementation;

• e-Government Observatory: providing information on all aspects of e-Government in the EU;

• public-service.eu: providing information on cross-border public services in the EU;

• eContent: supports the production, use and distribution of European digital content and promotes linguistic and cultural diversity on the global networks.  See in particular the Proposal for Directive on Public Sector Information;

• eTEN: designed to help the deployment of e-services with a trans-European dimension, focussing strongly on public services;

• The eEurope Awards for e-Government, awarded to organisations selected to exhibit at the e-Government Ministerial Conference;

• Top of the Web: an eEurope project to benchmark e-Government services across Europe;

• 20 benchmarked public services.

For further information on e-Government, see here.

 

 

 

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