Accelerating the digital transformation of governments in the EU — 2016-2020 action plan  

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE COMMUNICATION, THE TREATY ARTICLES AND THE CHARTER? Since 2005, the European Commission has adopted EU eGovernment action plans in order to advance the agenda of public sector modernisation across the EU. They aim to support European coordination, collaboration and joint actions on eGovernment. The latest action plan aims to provide support to administrative processes, improving service quality and increasing efficiency by making full use of digital technology. It also aims to reduce administrative burden on businesses and citizens by making interactions faster, more convenient and cheaper, leading to further economic and social benefits for society as a whole. Under Article 197 TFEU, the EU may support the efforts of EU countries to improve their administrative capacity to implement EU law. Under Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, every person has the right to: have his or her affairs handled impartially, fairly and within a reasonable time by EU bodies, including the right to be heard before any individual measure which would affect him or her adversely is taken, have access to his or her file, while respecting the legitimate interests of confidentiality and of professional and business secrecy.

KEY POINTS The action plan is guided by the vision that by 2020, public administrations and institutions in the EU should be open, efficient and inclusive, providing borderless, personalised, user-friendly, digital public services to all citizens and businesses. Innovative approaches are used to design and deliver better services in line with the needs and demands of citizens and businesses. Public administrations use the opportunities offered by the new digital environment to facilitate their interactions with all interested parties and with each other. This action plan aims to join up the efforts being made to remove existing digital barriers to the Digital Single Market. It does not have a dedicated budget, but helps to coordinate resources available to EU countries through various EU programmes. Initiatives within the plan are based on these principles:

• Digital by default, delivering services digitally as the preferred option through a single contact point;
• Once-only principle, ensuring that citizens and businesses supply the same information only once to a public administration;
• Inclusive and accessible: digital public services that are inclusive and cater for different needs such as those of people with disabilities;
• Open and transparent: public bodies sharing information and data between themselves, and citizens and businesses having access to their own data, engaging with businesses and others in service design;
• Cross-border, with digital public services available across borders, preventing further fragmentation and assuring mobility within the EU’s single market;
• Interoperable, with services designed to work seamlessly across the single market and across organisations;
• Trustworthy and secure, with initiatives going further than just legal compliance on data protection, privacy, and IT security.

The Regulation (EU) N°910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS Regulation) adopted by the co-legislators on 23 July 2014 is a milestone to provide a predictable regulatory environment to enable secure and seamless electronic interactions between businesses, citizens and public authorities.

Electronic identification (eID) and electronic Trust Services (eTS) are key enablers for secure cross-border electronic transactions and central building blocks of the Digital Single Market.

The eIDAS Regulation:

• ensures that people and businesses can use their own national electronic identification schemes (eIDs) to access public services in other EU eID are available.
• creates an European internal market for eTS - namely electronic signatures, electronic seals, time stamp, electronic delivery service and website authentication - by ensuring that they will work across borders and have the same legal status as traditional paper based processes. Only by providing certainty on the legal validity of all these services, businesses and citizens will use the digital interactions as their natural way of interaction.

ippmedia.com (29.10.2018) The Public Service Social Security Fund (PSSSF) and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) are in the final stages of setting up operational guidelines for issuance of unemployment benefits to members, the sector regulator announced yesterday.

Presidencia de la República (28.10.2018) Según las últimas cifras difundidas por el Ministerio de Salud Pública, la mitad de los pacientes que requieren cuidados paliativos acceden a ellos, tanto en servicios públicos como privados. En 2012 la cifra no llegaba a uno de cada cinco. Uruguay se ubica en el primer lugar de América Latina en la materia. El ministro Jorge Basso señaló como fundamental que las familias conozcan sus derechos al respecto

ILO (12.10.2018) Following the publication of the World Development Report 2019 on ‘The Changing Nature of Work’, the International Labour Office questions the approach to some key issues addressed in the publication.

Times Of Oman (29.10.2018) Five winners have been awarded the first edition of the Scientific Research Award for their research in the field of social insurance by the Public authority for Social Insurance (PASI).

Euractiv.com (23.10.2018) 87% of assets managed by the world’s 100 largest public pension funds are yet to undergo a formal climate risk assessment, according to research published on Tuesday (23 October), with only 15% of them adopting a coal exclusion policy.

ilo.org/americas (23.10.2018) América Latina y el Caribe es la región más biodiversa del mundo, pero está perdiendo su riqueza natural con el deterioro ambiental que provoca el actual estilo de desarrollo. De allí que resulta urgente una transición hacia un modelo más sostenible tanto desde el punto de vista medioambiental como laboral, lo que permitiría acceder a nuevas oportunidades y mejoras en el empleo, señalan la CEPAL y la OIT en una nueva publicación conjunta.

euro.who.(October 2018) This policy brief is one of a series on addressing market and policy failures in the pharmaceutical sector that was prepared for the Austrian EU Presidency. It aims to inform discussions about stimulating more meaningful productivity in terms of R&D. More specifically, it explores how R&D efforts can be steered to areas of unmet clinical needs and how efficiency in the R&D process can be increased. It also explicitly considers concrete options for strength

Le Temps (26.10.2018) Plutôt que de privilégier le développement des «emplois d’avenir», qui seraient des métiers hautement qualifiés, les Canadiens, et notamment les Québécois, misent depuis longtemps sur les petits jobs. Avec succès

McKinsey (25.10.2018) New technologies can give Switzerland’s economy a much-needed productivity boost, but bold digital transformation and skills development are imperative.  Digital technologies, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) could boost Swiss productivity by around one percentage point a year in the period to 2030. However, to capture that productivity bonus, Swiss companies need to undertake bold and comprehensive digital transformation, and work with governments to equip the workforce with the skills that will be in demand.

vorwärts (11.10.2018) Im Bundesarbeitsministerium wird ab sofort in einer Denkfabrik Digitale Arbeitsgesellschaft zur Zukunft der Arbeit geforscht. Ziel: Kluge Vorschläge an die Politik.

ILO  (22.10.2018) Workers will need a magic mix of skills to survive the technological revolution. T he World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2018  gives some cause for encouragement. The business perspective on how technology will affect growth and job creation is becoming more positive, the survey results show. As the International Labour Organization (ILO) approaches its 100th anniversary , we are also reflecting on these issues through the Future of Work Centenary Initiative . I would like to share some of our thoughts on policy and trends.

El Pais (25.10.2018) Los extranjeros que se encuentran en situación irregular en España siguen a la espera de que se concrete su acceso universal a la sanidad. El Congreso convalidó en septiembre el decreto ley aprobado en julio por el Gobierno para garantizar esta asistencia sanitaria, pero ahora se está tramitando como ley en el Congreso. Y, mientras tanto, organizaciones como Médicos del Mundo, Yo Sí Sanidad Universal y Médicos sin Fronteras, entre otros, denuncian quejas de personas en situación irregular que no son atendidas.

Les dangers du contrôle budgétaire par l'Etat des dépenses de Sécurité sociale et les raisons de l'équilibre financiers français.

lemonde.fr (15.09.2018) Autrefois présentée sous le nom de « versement social unique », cette future prestation sociale regroupe des enjeux colossaux. Explications.

The Kathmandu Post (25.10.2018) The third anniversary of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the member states of the United Nations reminds us that the SDG clock is ticking. The aspiration of Agenda 2030 of ‘leaving no one behind’ calls for an integrated strategic plan that includes social protection to cover population groups most difficult to reach. Often the hardest to reach and most at risk are people who are vulnerable due to factors such as extreme poverty, disability, old age and chronic illness, social and geographic exclusion, and frequent natural disasters.

An enormous amount of literature has emerged over the last few years in the context of the “Future of Work”. Academics, think tanks and policy makers have fuelled rich discussions about how the future of work might look like and how we can shape it. Indeed, labour markets in developing and developed countries are likely to undergo major transformations in the next years and decades. However, despite a growing body of research in this area, there exists no universally accepted definition of what exactly the “Future of Work” encompasses and what the most relevant drivers are.

EurActiv (23.10.2018) La grande majorité des actifs des 100 plus grands fonds de pension n’ont pas fait l’objet d’une évaluation des risques climatiques.

Le Temps (24.10.2018) Dans un livre* à paraître la semaine prochaine, Daniel Walch et Xavier Comtesse entrevoient une baisse possible des coûts de la santé grâce à l’intelligence artificielle. Qui fera des assurés des patients «impatients et compétents»

ILO (23.10.2018) ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, calls on businesses to help make universal social protection a reality, in a speech at the fourth annual meeting of the ILO Global Business Network for Social Protection Floors, in Geneva, Switzerland.

The report proposes a progressive agenda to take action on health inequalities, and—in doing so—achieve the SDGs on health. Only by simultaneously providing universal health coverage to all populations in Europe and evaluating policies regarding their health impacts can we level the inequalities in health. Doing so promises economic benefits at a national level, but more importantly, it delivers on a basic human right: the right to health, irrespective of place of birth, ability, or socioeconomic background.

Read the report

La fraude associée à l'économie de plate forme évolue... Uber veut s'étendre à d'autres services

EurActiv (16.10.2018) 87% of assets managed by the world’s 100 largest public pension funds are yet to undergo a formal climate risk assessment, according to research published on Tuesday (23 October), with only 15% of them adopting a coal exclusion policy.

Cinco Días (22.10.2018) Las pensiones siempre han sido el gran problema financiero del futuro en España. Desde que en 1985 se hizo la primera reforma seria del sistema de la Seguridad Social para prohibir la compra de prestaciones y tratar de garantizar que nadie se llevase lo que no había puesto, el futuro se ha ido retrasando con sucesivos parches, pero ahora se ha echado encima y no bastan los milagros de sor Virginia. Se precisa una reforma integral del sistema de protección a la vejez para que el futuro, cuando llegue, sea el jardín de las delicias y no un conflicto continuo.