Key objectives of reducing administrative burdens and providing interoperability between Member States have been cited in a Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment. The Declaration was approved unanimously on 20 September by the ministers of the Member States of the European Union (EU) and members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) at the end of a meeting which took place as part of the 4th Ministerial eGovernment Conference.
The new Ministerial Declaration focuses on the following priorities:
- Strengthening the European dimension through interoperability between Member States;
- Reducing the administrative burden and so the administrative costs, allowing efficient and effective interaction between public administrations and Europe's citizens and businesses;
- Guaranteeing and ensuring that all citizens benefit from eGovernment services, particular citizens from economically and socially disadvantaged groups;
- Fostering the democratic engagement of citizens and increasing transparency.
With respect to interoperability between Member states, new priorities for high impact citizen services need to be set by Member States by the end of 2008. These services could be developed on a pan-European basis and with the support of Community programmes. A further commitment was made to continuing the improvement of public services provided to citizens and business through the use of ICT.
The winners of the 2007 eGovernment Awards were also announced. In the category of ''most inspiring good practice'', the winner was the Italian project ''OLPS – Online Police Station''. The category ''Best Public Services for Growth and Jobs'' was won by the project ''HoReCa1 – One Stop Shop for Hotel and Restaurant'' from Holland. The project ''My Page – Self Service Citizen'' (Norway) won the ''Participation and Transparency'' category and the imitative ''Besançon.clic'' from France was awarded the prize for ''Social Impact and Cohesion''. Finally the category ''Effective and Efficient Administration'' was won by the German project ''DVDV – The Germany Administration Service Directory''.
Meanwhile the presentations and speeches have been made available online, along with some information about the speakers.
At the same time a report has been released which assesses the progress of Member States in terms of eGovernment practises ''eGovernment Progress in EU27+ – Reaping the benefits'' together with a study carried out the consultancy firm, CapGemini, on the same subject, entitled ''The user challenge - Benchmarking the supply of online public services - 7th measurement''.
Further information:
- Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment http://www.megovconf-lisbon.gov.pt/images/stories/ministerial_declaration_final_version_180907.pdf
- Presentations and Speakers http://www.megovconf-lisbon.gov.pt/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=37&lang=en
- Report: ''eGovernment Progress in EU27+ ? Reaping the benefits'' http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=391
- Study: ''The user challenge - Benchmarking the supply of online public services - 7th measurement'' http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/docs/benchmarking/egov_benchmark_2007.pdf
- 4th Ministerial eGovernment Conference ? website http://www.megovconf-lisbon.gov.pt/index.php?lang=en
- eGovernment Observatory http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/egovo
- European Commission: eGovernment Exchange http://ec.europa.eu/egov/
- Epractice.eu http://www.epractice.eu/home
Related information on ANACOM's website:
- Ministerial eGovernment Conference https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=521232
- European eGovernment Awards https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=473994
- EU - European Union https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=66653
- Information society https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=118259
