Is THIS the solution to the digitisation crisis? Every country in Europe is digitising. Some faster, some at German speed. So far everyone’s been cooking their own little soup. So far! Because the EU is working on a project that could fundamentally change government digitisation. Not a new app. Not another portal. But a shared technological foundation.
The name that keeps coming up is GovStack Europe. Sounds odd? It actually makes a lot of sense. Finally there’s meant to be a unified digitisation toolkit, from which every country can pick the elements it needs. Exactly the way many countries already do nationally — and there are already comparable approaches in Germany too.
Why is this so important? Because so far, Europe has mainly been building digital islands. Every country develops its own portals, its own identities, its own architectures. That’s expensive, slow, and hard to scale. GovStack Europe could change that. Shared standards would:
- lower development costs
- improve interoperability
- speed up innovation
- and make digital government more consistent across Europe.
For citizens, that could mean digital services working across borders in future. For businesses, Europe could finally grow together more strongly in digital terms. But that’s exactly where the challenges lie too. Because administration is always also an expression of national structures, laws and political culture.
Will the EU states get on board? Probably it’ll play out as usual: some join in fully, some partially, and some not at all. Typically EU. But still an important step in the right direction.
Image: This image was created with AI.
Sources
- European Commission, European Digital Identity Wallet
- International Telecommunication Union, GovStack Initiative
- Digital Public Goods Alliance, GovStack Framework
- OECD, Digital Public Infrastructure Reports
- European Commission, European Interoperability Framework
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