All European countries show e-government initiatives, mainly related to the improvement of governance at the national level. Significant e-government activities also take place at the European Commission level as well. There is an extensive list of e-government fact sheets maintained by the European Commission.

E-government at the European Commission level

The European Commission is actively supporting e-government both at the national level and at its supranational level. The vice-president for Administrative Affairs is responsible for the advancement of e-government at the Commission level through large-scale activities that implement the e-Commission strategy. The Information Society and Media Directorate-General and the Directorate-General for Informatics implement this strategy, through several programmes and related activities. Two of the most prominent such initiatives are the IDABC programme, and its successor, ISA. IDABC is guided and monitored by a team of national experts. The e-government policy of the European Commission until 2010 is described by the i2010 Action Plan that defines the principles and directions of e-government policy of the European Commission. Other projects funded by the European Commission include Access-eGov, EGovMoNet and SemanticGov.

In view of the next five-year period, the ministers responsible for eGovernment of the EU convened in Malmö, Sweden and unanimously presented the Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment on 18 November 2009. This document presents the vision, political priorities and objectives of the EU for the period 2010–2015.

The next eGovernment Action Plan that describes the directions for the period starting at 2011 has been announced by the European Commission under the name Europe 2020 and is expected to be formally adopted in June 2010.

Beside the member states, most (if not all) e-government activities of the European Commission target in addition the candidate countries and the EFTA countries. , the complete list comprises 34 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

IDABC

IDABC stands for Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens.

IDABC was a European Union Program launched in 2004 that promoted the correct use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for cross-border services in Europe. It aimed to stimulate the development of online platforms delivering public e-Services in Europe. It used the opportunities offered by ICT to encourage and support the delivery of cross-border public sector services to citizens and enterprises in Europe, to improve efficiency and collaboration between European public administrations and to contribute to making Europe an attractive place to live, work and invest.

To achieve objectives like "Interoperability", IDABC issued recommendations, developed solutions and provided services that enable national and European administrations to communicate electronically while offering modern public services to businesses and citizens in Europe. In the context of IDABC the European Interoperability Framework version 1.0 was issued.

The programme also provided financing to projects addressing European policy requirements, thus improving cooperation between administrations across Europe. National public sector policy-makers were represented in the IDABC programme's management committee and in many expert groups. This made the programme a unique forum for the coordination of national eGovernment policies.

By using state-of-the-art information and communication technologies, developing common solutions and services and by finally, providing a platform for the exchange of good practice between public administrations, IDABC contributed to the i2010 initiative of modernising the European public sector. IDABC was a Community programme managed by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Informatics.

In 2008, IDABC launched the Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe (SEMIC.EU). eGovernment and other pan-European collaborations can exchange their knowledge and their visions on SEMIC.EU. In the same year, IDABC launched the OSOR.eu website with the aim to facilitate the collaboration between public administrations in their use of open-source software.

IDABC followed the Interchange of Data across Administrations (IDA) program.

The new Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations (ISA) programme was adopted by the Council and the European Parliament in September 2009 and has replaced the IDABC programme, which came to an end on 31 December 2009.

Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations (ISA) Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations or ISA was a European Commission e-government programme for the period 2010–2015. On 29 September 2008, the Commission approved a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers regarding a new programme for the period 2010–15. The Decision was formally adopted on 16 September 2009.Official Journal of the European Union, Decision No. 922/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on interoperability solutions for European public administrations (ISA), accessed on 1 December 2025 This programme was a follow-on to IDABC, which had come to an end on 31 December 2009. The ISA programme focussed on back-office solutions, where interoperable solutions and processes were expected to "promote the efficient and effective delivery of public services to citizens and enterprises across borders and sectors", thereby supporting the interaction between European public administrations and the implementation of Community policies and activities. An ISA Committee was established to support the programme.

ISA supported cross-border large scale projects launched under the auspice of the ICT Policy Support Programme.

EU member states

Austria Brief history E-government had an early start in Austria. Since its beginning, public authorities and e-government project teams have continually been working to expand and improve public services and underlying processes.

In 1995, the Federal Government set up an Information Society Working Group tasked with identifying the opportunities and threats posed by the development of the information society. In 1998, an IT-Cooperation Agreement was signed between the federal state and the various regions. In May 2003, the federal government launched an e-government initiative, the eGovernment Offensive, to establish an electronic file management system, as a prerequisite for co-ordinating all eGovernment activities in the country.Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Guide on Dealing with Innovative Solutions in Public Procurement: 10 elements of good practice, Pro Inno Europe, Commission Staff Working Document SEC (2007) 280, page 9, published in 2007, archived on 1 July 2011, accessed on 11 March 2026 In the following year, the short-term goal of the eGovernment Offensive – achieving a place in the EU's top 5 eGovernment leaders – was fulfilled, as Austria was ranked No. 4 in the annual e-government benchmarking survey. In 2007 according to the study The User Challenge – Benchmarking the Supply of Online Public Services, Austria is listed as the first EU member state to achieve a 100% fully online availability score for all services for citizens.

Legislation

The eGovernment Act and the General Law on Administration Processes and the Electronic Signature Act set the main e-government framework in Austria. Austria was the first EU Member State to implement the EU Electronic Signatures Directive.

The Austrian legal e-government framework (substantially revised at the end of 2007) defines the following principles for the Austrian e-government strategy:

Proximity to citizens Convenience through efficiency Trust and security Transparency Accessibility Usability Data security Cooperation Sustainability Interoperability Technological neutrality

Key to the e-government evolution process in Austria is the introduction of electronic data processing systems based upon citizen cards. Service providers from the public and the private sector can provide electronic services using the citizen cards for authentication.

Key actors

The central element of e-government in Austria is the Digital Austria platform which is supervised by the federal chief information officer, who is also providing consultation services to the federal government regarding policy, strategy and implementation issues. The State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery is responsible for e-government strategy at the federal level.

Belgium

In the 2009 Smarter, Faster, Better eGovernment – eighth Benchmark Measurement report prepared for the European Commission, Belgium is placed on the 16th position among the EU27+EU27+ referred to the participating countries in the 8th EU Benchmark, which included the 27 EU Member States at the time and Croatia, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland. countries with respect to the full online availability of e-government services and on the 12th position with respect to their online sophistication. The country also places 24th (out of 189 countries) in the UN eGovernment Readiness Index 2008 and 18th (out of 133 countries) in the WEF Global Competitiveness Index 2009–2010.Capgemini et al. 8th EU Benchmark p. 94

Strategy

The Belgian e-government strategy is aimed at creating a single virtual public administration to be characterised by fast and convenient service delivery, at the same time respecting the privacy of users. The services shall be developed around the needs of citizens, putting in place complete electronic administrative procedures independently from actual authorities being involved. In addition, simplified procedures shall provide for a reduced bureaucracy. To this end the strategy suggests four main streams all efforts should be structured around:

Re-engineering and integrating service delivery around users' needs and life events; Cooperation among all levels of government; Simplification of administrative procedures for citizens and businesses; Back office integration and protection of personal data.

Taking into account the federal structure of Belgium, the second strategic stream addresses the implementation of e-government efforts throughout all levels of Federal, Regional, and Community authorities. The framework for this co-operation was set by the eGovernment Cooperation Agreement, adopted in 2001, expressing in particular the commitment of all government layers to use the same standards, identification infrastructure, and e-signature. This agreement was later re-conducted and enhanced by a cooperation agreement on the principles of a seamless e-government in 2006. Key aspects addressed by the latter document include: provision of public services following an intentioned based and user friendly approach placing emphasis on security and confidentiality aspects; ensuring interoperability of e-government solutions; maximising the re-usability of e-government developments and services; ensuring that data would be collected only once and would be re-used to a maximum extend.

Legislation