Malta teaming up for the eUnion

The future of e-government in the European Union is being shaped in a three-day conference currently under way in Malmö, Sweden. The fifth e-government ministerial conference organised by the Swedish EU Presidency and the European Commission is appropriately titled "Teaming up for the eUnion".

A Maltese delegation from the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications and the Government's prime ICT driver, the Malta Information Technology Agency, is participating in this event that includes a meeting of ministers responsible for e-government, a number of workshops on e-government and an exhibition of the 50+ European e-Government Awards finalists.

Yesterday, member states endorsed a ministerial declaration that sets out the path for e-Government until 2015 that prioritises actions to empower citizens and businesses by inclusive and user-driven public services, easy access to public information, transparent processes and effective means for participation which maximises public value and supports the transition to a knowledge-based economy; reinforce mobility on the Single Market by means of cross-border e-government services and interoperable solutions for administrative cooperation between public administrations; and reduce administrative burden and enable a sustainable low-carbon economy and further improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Also on the cards is collaboration among member states in order to set out the appropriate preconditions and key enablers and jointly govern the implementation of the policy objectives.

This evening the winners of the European e-Government Awards will be announced in an awards ceremony. Two Maltese e-government services have made it as finalists for tonight's ceremony where a total of five awards will be given. The finalists are the Inland Revenue Services Online (www.ird.gov.mt) that enables taxpayers and tax practitioners to submit their tax and social security obligations online and the Malta Environment Planning Authority's eApplications (www.mepa.gov.mt) that provides citizens, architects and consulting bodies access to electronic documents and correspondence on applications, registrations and notifications.

Through these awards, the EC seeks to promote best practices and recognises the most innovative electronic solutions that public authorities in Europe have developed to facilitate citizens' and business' access to public services, reduce administrative burdens and increase public administration efficiency.

Tomorrow high-level speakers will meet in more than 20 sessions to discuss topics of interest in the field of e-government. MITA CEO Matthew Gatt will be chairing one of the workshop sessions which shall discuss the importance of interoperability. He will be highlighting the importance of having different systems and organisations able to work (inter-operate) together and offer cross-border services for citizens, business and public administrators. Mr Grech will also be discussing the importance of common legal and political understanding among EU member states to enable the implementation of inter-operable solutions.

Ms Galea is a consultant within the eGov Unit at MITA.