No. Right on our doorstep, you can see how it’s done. Portugal, Estonia, Denmark, but also further away, South Korea. Wherever the champions of digitising government are, they have one thing in common: they tend to be small. So does no bigger country really manage what Germany has been struggling to do for years? It does! Because Spain isn’t just Europe’s growth champion, it’s also a role model when it comes to digitisation. Reason enough to take a closer look at the country.
Over recent years, Spain has quietly and consistently built one of the most capable digital administrations in Europe, and has been part of the top group in the European Commission’s eGovernment Benchmark for years. In international comparisons by the OECD and the United Nations too, the country is clearly ahead of Germany.
The most important reason for this is consistent standardisation! With the central portal Administración.gob.es and the digital identity Cl@ve, citizens can use numerous services with a single, unified access point. Even more important is the architecture behind it. Via the Plataforma de Intermediación de Datos, authorities exchange information directly with one another. That means people in Spain often no longer have to submit many proofs themselves at all. That saves time, paper, and trips to the authorities.
Spain shows what modern administration is really about. Not as many online forms as possible. But a system that makes intelligent use of the data that already exists.
Have you ever had contact with digital government in Spain?
Image: Sam Williams on Unsplash
Sources:
- European Commission, eGovernment Benchmark 2024
- OECD, Digital Government Studies: Spain
- Gobierno de España, Cl@ve and Plataforma de Intermediación de Datos
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