Culture and Society :: eGovernment > Overview
Putting citizens first
eGovernment is the use of Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) to make public administrations more efficient and effective, promoting growth by cutting red tape. This is something which anyone who has spent hours waiting in line in a government building can appreciate.
Overview ¦ Example Projects
"We are starting to see benefits from eGovernment
... but we need to be more active in learning lessons from each other
and getting benefits of scale"
-Viviane Reding, launching the
eGovernment Action Plan
Electronic invoicing in Denmark saves businesses there 50 million euros per year, with administrations - and hence taxpayers - saving another 120-150 million euros (eGovernment Awards Info-Manchester) . If we could get this working across the EU, European taxpayers would save 15 billion euros every year.
This, however, is the tip of the iceberg. By connecting government departments, companies and citizens, eGovernment-powered public services also become faster and more personalised, allowing citizens and companies to get on with their lives and build their businesses rather than waiting in line in government buildings. eGovernment can also strengthen democracy by improving two-way communication between the citizens and their government.
While there is much research still to be done, this is not just a technical issue - technology must be combined with organisational change and new skills to fulfil the eGovernment promise. Moreover, national eGovernment solutions must not lead to new barriers within the Single Market - if national electronic identities are not interoperable, for example, both companies and people will face new barriers to working and living in other countries.
Modernising Europe's public administrations therefore means helping researchers, companies and public administrations work together across Europe to develop the technologies, exchange best practices and forge a coordinated approach. We must avoid reinventing the wheel 27 times across the EU, learn from each other's successes and failures, and win the economies of scale that only a European approach can provide.
Further Details and Quicklinks
- Policies
- Activities
- See Also
- Relevant Policies
-
- the eGovernment site deals with EU policy in the field of eGovernment
-
i2010: the
Inclusion, better public services and quality of life pillar
promotes an inclusive European Information Society, supported by
efficient and user-friendly ICT-enabled public services.
- Hence the eGovernment Action Plan (April 2006), outlining how "hundreds of billions of euros could be saved for European taxpayers every year", which followed the Ministerial eGovernment Conference (November 2005).
- The Ministerial eGovernment Conference 2007 in Lisbon resulted in signing the Ministerial Declaration
- Action Plan for Electronic Public Procurement (December 2004): using ICTs can reduce costs, improve efficiency and remove barriers to trade in public procurement, which accounts for about 16% of EU GDP;
- Data protection legislation has been harmonised across Europe to remove obstacles to cross-frontier flows of personal data while ensuring high levels of protection;
- Public Sector Information: documents, databases and other information produced by public sector bodies is a key resource, but is not exploited properly due to fragmentation across Europe;
- Relevant Activities
-
Browse some relevant Example Projects or jump straight to the following sites:
- Research: see the
Research & Innovation theme
for an introduction, or visit:
- the eGovernment site includes research projects under FP6 (2002-2006)
- Social sciences and humanities research into Governance, democracy and citizenship is exploring how citizens can have a greater say and more control in the way governments and EU institutions run society;
- the epractice.eu - service for the eGovernment, eInclusion and eHealth professional communities;
- the eGovernment site also covers the eParticipation Initiative, which promotes the development and use of ICTs in legislative decision-making processes
-
One of the main themes of the
ICT
Policy Support Programme ('ICT PSP', 2007-2013) is to focus on
efficient and interoperable eGovernment services.
- ICT PSP builds on - among others - the eTEN eGovernment projects
- The Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services programme supports the use of ICTs to deliver cross-border public sector services in Europe and improve efficiency and collaboration between European public administrations;
- The Privacy
Enhancing Technologies - while innovative ICT services are
constantly improving people's lives, new risks such as identity
theft are on the rise. As the Commission points out in a recent
Communication, Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) can
minimise these risks
- Research: see the
Research & Innovation theme
for an introduction, or visit:
- See Also
-
Other sites and documents of interest include:
- Europe must also ensure everyone can benefit from eGovernment: see the eInclusion theme;
- An example of eGovernment operating at the EU level: online databases operated with Member States' Customs and Taxation Services.
Highlights from the eGovernment Newsroom and Library:
- Report: Online Availability of Public Services: How Is Europe Progressing? (29 June, 2006): Press release & report (pdf)
- Press Pack: eGovernment Action Plan (April 2006);
- Factsheet 10: Transforming Government (pdf; all Factsheets here)
- Speech: eGovernment for all Europeans (Viviane Reding, 10 February 2006)
- Speech: eGovernment in i2010 - Citizens first (Viviane Reding at the Ministerial eGovernment Conference, November 2005)
- For the latest eGovernment news, publications and more from the Newsroom & Library, see right hand column, or select Society & Culture when you subscribe to the Portal Newsroom Update;
Last Updated September 2007