Building a digital Europe

This paper presents pointers on what is required to deliver a secure e-Government environment for mobile European citizens, based on the lessons learned from existing services and initiatives and identified challenges in the national and pan-European environments. The paper builds on a review of policy documents, scientific literature and an assessment of existing Pan-European eGovernment Services (PEGS; Solvit, ëLimosaí, DG TAXUD, Secure Telematics (sTESTA)) and other multi-stakeholder systems developed in the private sector (Single European Payments Area; SEPA). It also draws on the presentations and discussions of a Working Conference on this theme held in Brussels in mid-November 2007 and the efforts of the SecurEgov (pan-European Secure e-Government Services) study conducted by RAND Europe for DG Information Society and Media between 2006 and 2007. This paper takes a look forward at what possibilities exist for regulatory intervention by the European Commission to meet some of the challenges related to the deployment of secure Pan European e-Government Services (PEGS). PEGS should provide an inclusive, seamless and cross-border service to citizens (and possibly other residents and visitors) in Europe. For the basic assessment, lessons from pan-European government-to-business (G2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) services are also taken into account. Thus, the paper is not meant to be an academic treatise on the various security aspects of PEGS, rather a document intended to be of direct policy benefit for the European Commission and other stakeholders in preparing the ground for the eventual implementation of PEGS.