| NOTAS: | This study was carried out for the European Commission by Wavestone
"The report on the state-of-play of digital public administration and interoperability across Europe aims at providing an overview of the main developments and achievements of European countries with regards to the digitalisation of the public sector in the period 2017-2020 and the measures implemented by the European Commission to enable these countries to achieve their goals. Additionally, the
results of the EIF implementation by the 36 European countries included in the sample of the study are presented in the report and then further analysed so as to provide an overview of the current state-of-play of interoperability across Europe. A proposal for future progression in this policy domain is also put forward. The results of the EIF implementation highlight that the digitalisation of public administrations strongly depends on Member States’ capacity to tackle interoperability challenges. This report sheds light on the various national initiatives that have been put in place by the 36 European countries analysed and by the European Commission to foster digital public administration and interoperability in the last three years. For many years, the European Commission has encouraged progression in this policy domain through various non-binding digital strategies and action plans as well as legislative frameworks, among others. In addition, funding programmes have been made available to European public administrations in order to boost their implementation of digital public administration and interoperability, such as the Connecting Europe Facility and the upcoming Digital Europe Programme1. Furthermore, the ISA2 Programme2 is entirely focussed on the funding of interoperability projects and thus aims at bettering the life of European citizens and businesses through the provision of interoperable solutions. The need for better and faster delivery of digital public services will take on greater urgency in the post COVID-19 era. Indeed, on 21 July 2020, EU leaders agreed on a comprehensive package of €1,824.3 billion which combines the multiannual financial framework (MFF) and an extraordinary recovery effort, Next Generation EU (NGEU). The package will help the EU to rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic and will support investment in the green and digital transitions. In addition, the upcoming Digital Europe Programme under the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework is committed to reinforcing Europe’s digital capacities in various cutting-edge domains such as high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, interoperability, cybersecurity and digital skills. One of the key actions of the Digital Europe Programme is the Shaping Europe’s Digital Future strategy3, which will continue to guide the transformation of the European Union and ensure the effective implementation of digital and interoperable public services among the Member States." |
