On the eve of the Ministerial eGovernment Conference - held on 19-20 November 2009 in Malmö, Sweden -  the EU ministers responsible for eGovernment committed to developing smarter online public services for citizens and businesses by 2015. The Commission has welcomed this step forward.  

The declaration - signed by the EU ministers on 18 November 2009 and released the day after - outlines a joint forward-looking vision and defines policy priorities to be achieved by 2015. The key objectives that the Member States together with the Commission aim to achieve in the next five years are:

• to empower businesses and citizens through eGovernment services designed around users' needs, better access to information and their active involvement in the policy making process;
• to facilitate mobility in the single market by seamless eGovernment services for setting up business, for studying, working, residing and retiring in Europe;
• to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of government services by reducing the administrative burden, improving organisational processes of administrations and using ICT to improve energy efficiency in public administrations which will result in a greater contribution to a sustainable low-carbon economy.

The European Commission is already working in close cooperation with Member States to set concrete targets for the eGovernment agenda in Europe and will launch an action plan in the second half of 2010 proposing concrete measures to achieve the objectives set out in the ministerial declaration.

"Today's declaration is another step in the right direction to further improve online public services for citizens and businesses. The commitment to shift from a "one-size-fits-all" to a customised approach is more likely to meet users' needs and will open the path for more interactive and demand-driven public services in Europe", said Siim Kallas, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud.

The empowerment of citizens and businesses is already supported today by a large number of eGovernment services. Recent figures from the eighth benchmarking report ordered by the European Commission on eGovernment in Europe, released at the fifth ministerial conference, indicate that the quality and availability of online government services have been on the rise in Europe in the last two years. The report moreover shows an increased sophistication of online services, where Europe stands at 83 %, compared to 76 % in 2007.  This year's report furthermore looks at the availability of eProcurement; is now at around 60% in the EU, still far from the 100% target for 2010 set by the i2010 eGovernment action plan.

Further information:

• Original press release - Europa website 
• Fifth Ministerial eGovernment Conference, Malmö, Sweden (19-20 November 2009)  
• Malmö Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment - ePractice library
• Eighth eGovernment benchmark report (2009) - ePractice library