EU backs key role for egovernment

Declaration from ministers endorses value of transformed public service

European Union (EU) ministers have unanimously approved a declaration recognising the importance of IT-enabled government service transformation to Europe’s economic goals.

The statement was made at last week’s egovernment conference in Manchester, hosted as part of the UK presidency of the EU.

‘Transformed public service can contribute significantly to the achievement of the Lisbon goal of making Europe the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010 by improving citizens’ quality of life, supporting the single market and reducing the administrative burden on enterprises,’ says the ministerial declaration.

‘The innovative use of IT can be a powerful catalyst and a key enabler in transforming public services,’ it says.

The statement specifies four areas for focus – social inclusion, effective and efficient government, customer-centric services, and secure electronic identification for citizens interacting with the public sector.

‘What we have done is directly link a small number of egovernment objectives to achieving an economically and socially successful Europe,’ Cabinet Office minister Jim Murphy told the conference.

‘We have set really stretching goals, but we have chosen just four areas of work on the basis that less is more. Our challenge is to match those fine words with collective and considered action.’

The emphasis on egovernment as transformative, rather than simply putting services online, endorses the UK IT strategy published last month by the Cabinet Office’s eGovernment Unit.

‘The key themes in the declaration are echoed in our plan so we are very much in step with what is going on in the rest of Europe,’ Ian Watmore, head of the unit, told Computing.

Plans for the coming year include EU member states working together on a roadmap for inclusive egovernment objectives and the sharing of best practice across national boundaries.