Recovery and Resilience Facility implementation: Digital public services

Summary:

This briefing tracks progress made in implementing digital measures under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The RRF is at the core of Next Generation EU, the unprecedented recovery instrument helping EU Member States address the socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital transformation is one of the RRF's six pillars and a shared priority for the EU. The RRF dedicates 26 % of its overall funding to digital objectives in various digital policy areas, of which digital public services is the largest. Digitalising public administration is a major challenge across the EU and a 2030 target of the EU's digital decade. The current EU objective is to ensure that by 2030 all key public services are fully accessible online for everyone, including persons with disabilities. Key public services should also comply with high security and privacy standards. The national recovery and resilience plans, which Member States prepared to be able to benefit from RRF financing, include various measures supporting the digitalisation of public services and e-government, both reforms and investments.

These account for more than a third of RRF-funded digital expenditure (37 % of the digital transformation pillar, or around €53 billion) and are the most supported digital policy area. The reforms seek mainly to establish the legal basis needed to enable digitalisation. The investments are aimed at modernising public administration processes in order to make them more user-friendly, interoperable and accessible, and to boost their uptake by citizens and businesses. Implementation of these measures, as of the RRF in general, is under way and gaining speed. Referring to preliminary positive assessments of payment requests, this briefing looks into some examples of milestones and targets that have been reported and assessed as fulfilled. Though not exhaustive, the examples offer an indication of what has already been carried out across Member States in the first half of the RRF's lifetime. The European Parliament plays an important role in ensuring the transparency and democratic scrutiny of the RRF implementation process, addressing key issues regularly in its resolutions.

This briefing is part of the series Next Generation EU (NGEU) delivery – Sectoral focus.

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