14 December 2005

Citizens' needs must come first in the development of e-government services, argued Viviane Reding, the EU's information society commissioner.

Speaking about the future of online government facilities in Paris yesterday, she praised the achievements made so far.

"All European Union member states now have an e-government strategy for modernising their administrations.

"Over 90 per cent of public services providers are online. The great majority of citizens who are using these online services are positive about them," she said.

However, she added that more effort was needed to ensure that online services were easily accessible and usable for all and were not just for the "highly-educated and relatively young".

Ms Reding explained how the e-government revolution has now changed course, as it is no longer just concerned with getting services online.

She outlined four key areas in which she hoped government web-based services would develop.

The first point was to make sure e-government services were "inclusive", ensuring "no citizen is left behind".

The second was to make sure the implementation of e-government polices made services as efficient and cost-effective as possible.

The third area was coined "making a difference with high impact services". Ms Reding wanted to see large-scale "flagship" online services to help maintain a high profile for e-government developments.

Smaller organisations would also look to these figurehead services as a template for their own success.

The final theme dealt with the need to provide a suitable infrastructure to allow e-government developments to become widespread across Europe.

A full e-government action plan, known as the i2010 agenda, will be fully outlined in Spring 2006.

© Adfero Ltd

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