Int´l cooperation warranted for developing eGovt

Minister of Local Government and Ownership Steering and responsible for digital matters Sirpa Paatero on Tuesday put emphasize on the necessity for a common data policy more than ever before.

“Looking ahead, we are going to have to harness existing data more effectively, including across borders. But this must be done securely and in a way that is ethically sound. We need commonly agreed principles for managing, generating, using, sharing and storing data effectively and ethically in a sustainable way. We need a common data policy more than ever before,” Paatero said at a discussion held at Finlandia Hall.

The conference discussed the implementation of the Tallinn declaration on eGovernment and the future outlook of eGovernment in Europe.

“We must bear in mind that digitalisation is merely a driver for achieving operational changes. Instead of focussing on technology, we need to concentrate on making sure digitalisation improves the lives of our citizens and the operating conditions of businesses. We must place genuine needs at the heart of activities more strongly than we have done so far,” said Roberto Viola, Director General of DG Connect of the European Commission said in his speech at the conference.

All the European Union Member States and EFTA-countries signed the 'eGovernement Declaration' in Tallinn on 6 October 2017. The declaration stresses that the Member States must provide high-quality, secure and user-centric digital public services for citizens as well as seamless cross-border public services for businesses. The purpose is to enable the development of the single market.

“We must set to work and put into action the commitments we made in the Tallinn Declaration. Together we must now make active decisions at EU-level on how we intend to take steps forward in eGovernment,” said Paatero.

In the Tallinn declaration attention was focussed in particular on the wider use of data. Paatero also raised this topic.

As the Presidency of the Council of the EU, Finland wanted to bring human-centric eGovernment to the core of discussions. The topic was raised in a number of speeches.

Like Paatero, Viola also underlined the importance of information.

“Together we can create a stronger digital Europe, as long as we utilise data and artificial intelligence more effectively. However, when utilising artificial intelligence, we must make sure that it is transparent and that that algorithms are used responsibly”, Viola said