| Author (Person) | McLauchlin, Anna |
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| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.12, No.19, 18.5.06 |
| Publication Date | 18/05/2006 |
| Content Type | News |
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If Europe's citizens used the internet to conduct their interactions with state bureaucracy - for tax forms, sickness benefits, child support and so on - they would, according to European Commission estimates, save EU governments hundreds of billions of euros every year. Under an action plan for eGovernment, published at the end of April, member states have committed themselves to getting more public services online by 2010, which is part of the Commission's i2010 initiative to increase ICT take-up in the EU. Most significantly, full electronic handling of Europe's EUR 1.5 trillion market in public contracts - will be 100% possible by 2010 and there will be at least 50% take-up, which the EU executive expects will save an annual EUR 40 billion. Targets for non-business contracts are less concrete, with governments agreeing to make "considerable gains in efficiency" and "significant reductions in administrative burdens" by 2010. Governments have also committed themselves to ensuring that electronic identities for public administration services are entirely interoperable across the EU by the same date. But putting more services online will only work if citizens are able to use them, which is why the Commission is pushing e-inclusion, pledging to work with member states to improve the access of all citizens, regardless of gender, age, nationality, income or disability, to technologies such as personal computers (PCs), digital TV and mobile phones. This is no small task in a country like Greece, for example, where only 17% of people have weekly access to the internet (Commission figures, 2005), compared with 75% in Sweden. Some organisations have warned that some sectors of society risk becoming alienated in an increasingly IT-dependent world. Large software companies have made much of their philanthropic efforts to make schoolchildren, older people and the unemployed PC-literate, and naturally there is a potential business advantage in getting an entire generation familiar with a particular brand of software. The Commission itself will hold a conference in Riga, Latvia, in June with industry, government and consumer representatives to try to raise awareness of the issue. Some member states have already made good headway in doing away with the paper chase, notably the Nordic countries, some of the new member states and the UK. The fact that eGovernment goes hand-in-hand with having a more competitive economy strengthens the Commission's hand as it tries to help member states stave off the challenge of globalisation. But even in those countries with high levels of ICT take-up there can be problems. According to the 2005 UN Global eGovernment readiness report, Denmark is the second most eGovernment friendly nation in the world (behind the US) and in February last year the Danish government boasted that it would save up to EUR 120 million by forcing its suppliers to submit digital invoices. But the transition was far from smooth, with several companies - particularly smaller ones - unable to cope with the new demands. This led to incomplete invoices being submitted and local governments asking the state for compensation to deal with the extra burden. Other companies were cannier and spotted a commercial opportunity. International flower company Interflora, for example, began charging an extra EUR 6 for every invoice, eating nicely into those projected government savings. The new system is only handling around 70% of these invoices. Another headache for the Commission is trying to persuade nationally minded governments to ensure that their systems work throughout the EU. Having the simplest online tax system in the EU is no help to the internal market if citizens living elsewhere in the EU are unable to get access to it. Interoperability is one of the reasons that lobbying around eGovernment is so fierce, with software firms promoting solutions based on open source, such as IBM and Novell, pitched against proprietary software firms such as Microsoft. eGovernment is potentially big business - every year total EU government spending amounts to EUR 4.5 trillion or 45% of GDP. Introductory article to a European Voice Special Report on eGovernment, the application of information and communications technology to enhance the effectiveness of a legislature, judiciary, or administration. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Business and Industry, Politics and International Relations |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
