On 16 December 2010, the European Commission (EC) adopted a Communication which sets out the strategy for the interoperability for European public services. On the previous day, the EC had announced another initiative for the industry by publishing the European Action Plan for eGovernment.
The EC's Communication ''Towards the interoperability of European public services'' aims to establish a common approach to public administrations in Member States, thus, helping citizens and businesses to take full advantage of the EU single market. Included in this document is the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) and the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) which should guide public bodies of the EU in its policies on information and communication technology (ICT).
As for the eGovernment Action Plan published on 15 December 2010, it is expected the adoption of 40 specific measures in the next five years, divided into four categories:
- Empower citizens and businesses;
- Reinforce mobility in the Single Market;
- Enable efficiency and effectiveness;
- Create the necessary key enablers and pre-conditions to make things happen.
The EC believes that the promotion of eGovernment can contribute to increasing Europe's competitiveness and enable public authorities to provide better services and more economical at a time of budgetary constraints. To note that eGovernment is a key component of the Digital Agenda for Europe, aiming to increase the use of online public services by 50 percent for citizens and by 80 percent for businesses until 2015.
Further information:
- Action Plan 2011 - 2015 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/action_plan_2011_2015/index_en.htm
- EC Communication: ''Towards interoperability for European public services'' http://ec.europa.eu/isa/strategy/doc/20101216___iop_communication.pdf
- EC Communication: Annex I - EIS (European Interoperability Strategy) http://ec.europa.eu/isa/strategy/doc/20101216_iop_communication_annex_eis.pdf
- EC Communication: Annex II - EIF (European Interoperability Framework) http://ec.europa.eu/isa/strategy/doc/110113__iop_communication_annex_eif.pdf
