NIFO updates eGovernment report on EU and EC
The European Commission this week published an update to its eGovernment report. The previous report was from 2014. The factsheet update is the last in the suite of 35 covering eGovernment in Europe. The text presents an overview of the state and progress of eGovernment in Europe and at the EC.
The factsheet is made available on the Joinup platform by the National Interoperability Framework Observatory (NIFO) community.
New services provided by the EC include a machine translation service and an open data portal. The MT@EC - Machine Translation Service supports multilingual needs specific to Europe's public sector. A total of 552 language pairs covering all of the EU official languages are currently provided. The service run by the Commission guarantees continuity and quality of service, as well as respect of confidentiality and other legal aspects related to trust in information exchange.
The EU's Open Data Portal is the single point of access for businesses and citizens to a growing range of data from European institutions. Data are free for reuse for commercial or non-commercial purposes. By providing easy and free access to data, the portal aims to promote their innovative use and unleash their economic potential. The EC adds that the portal aims to help foster transparency and accountability.
Modern administrations
The report describes the EC's eGovernment Information Strategy, and its two-tier approach towards modern administrations.
On a political level, the strategy builds on the Europe 2020 economic strategy and the Digital Agenda for Europe. On an operational level, several initiatives are described, including the internal e-Commission initiative, the reviewed EC internal Open Source Strategy and the ISA² programme.
Last summer, the EC has adopted a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a programme on interoperability solutions for European public administrations, businesses and citizens (ISA²). The programme will cover the period 2016-2020 with a budget of EUR 131 million and is a follow up of the ISA programme.
Under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) initiative, Digital Services Infrastructures (CEF DSIs) deploy digital public services that work across borders, an essential precondition for the Digital Single Market. The DSIs will facilitate the cross-border and cross-sector interaction between European public administrations. This, in turn, will enable the provision of essential services for businesses and citizens in areas as diverse as electronic identification and procurement, and interoperable health services.
The eGovernment factsheets focus on policies and activities covering good practices in the delivery of electronic services to the benefit of public administrations, businesses and citizens. NIFO is a project by the EC's ISA programme, delivering solutions for European public administrations. It assists EU countries in monitoring the take up of eGovernment and interoperability.