Member states must outline their political commitment to e-government if they want to increase the take up of electronic services, a report from the European Commission has warned. The Commission cited e-government as the means for achieving a world class online public administration in "The role for e-government for Europe's future", published 29 September 2003.
Enterprise and information society commissioner, Erkki Liikanen, said: "It is essential for Europe to have a public sector that helps the European economy to grow, that provides high quality services to all and that reinforces democratic involvement."
However, the report does acknowledge that governments face resistance and barriers in achieving these aims. These barriers are organisational, financial and social.
In the report the Commission proposes 18 measures that would enable member states to generate more interest in e-government. The main points from these include:
- access to public services from multiple platforms;
- new services via broadband;
- trust and confidence building measures;
- quick adoption and exchange of public sector best practice;
- a three year action plan on electronic public procurement by 2004;
- the development of pan-European services;
- an interoperability framework to be adopted by end of 2003;
- the need for new approaches to benchmarking; and
- A one-stop shop for e-government related activities of the EU.
