The new EIF embodied in the Ministerial Declaration on e-Government as a guideline to the digitalisation of public administrations

Gertrud Ingestad, Director-General of DG Informatics, European Commission

Digitising public administrations is vital for the advancement of the Digital Single Market (DSM). Digital government can play a significant role in strengthening the trust in governments. Well aware of that, back in March this year we launched the new European Interoperability Framework (EIF) prepared by the Interoperability Unit of the Directorate-General for Informatics (DG DIGIT) at the European Commission. This document provides 47 recommendations for modernising the delivery of public services nationally and across borders.

Today, we are happy to announce that the EIF has been included as a roadmap to the digitalisation of public administrations in the Ministerial Declaration on e-Government. The document signed today by the ministers in charge of e-Government from 32 countries of the EU and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) in Tallinn, Estonia. The text clearly states the commitment to the vision "to strive to be open, efficient and inclusive, providing borderless, interoperable, personalised, user-friendly, end-to-end digital public services to all citizens and businesses – at all levels of public administration."

We are aware of the need for unlocking the full potential of interoperability across the EU, so that no single citizen can be taken apart. This is fully aligned with the portfolios of the Vice-President of the European Commission, Andrus Ansip, and the Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel. Including the EIF into the Ministerial Declaration is good news since:

• Involved countries will contribute to seize the full value of digital transformation in our administrations and also at the EU level.
• It will enable the delivery of proactive, real time and user-centric services to citizens and businesses.

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This is actually the main focus of the entire ISA² programme of the Interoperability Unit at DIGIT.  Running from January 2016 to December 2020, the programme supports the development of digital solutions that enable public administrations, businesses and citizens in Europe to benefit from interoperable cross-border and cross-sector public services. So far, we have developed 24 interoperability open source solutions under the 40 actions of the programme.

If it sounds interesting to you and you are in the Ministerial eGovernment Conference, do not hesitate to pass by the ISA² stand there and ask our team about the EIF and ISA² IT solutions.

Stay tuned:

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Contact: isa2@ec.europa.eu