The Commission’s thinking on priorities for a future programme was outlined by Karel De Vriendt, Head of Unit for IDABC, who said that during 2008 there will be discussions in the IDABC management committee, with other Commission departments and also formal consultations with Member States. This will prepare the ground for a Commission proposal to the Council and to the European Parliament.

'What is clear from what we have learned at this conference and through the current IDABC programme is that individual Member States cannot solve cross-border interoperability problems on their own', he said. 'Member States all want to transform and modernise their public administrations. They need to redesign and improve their administrative processes, re-use information as much as possible and link up their systems, all with the aim of reducing administrative burdens and improving services to citizens and business'.

'What is clear from our discussions is that, unless these transformations are undertaken with an international and cross-border perspective, there is a risk that new electronic barriers may be created in cross-border interaction', Mr De Vriendt continued. 'Problems cannot be solved by individual Member States. There is no such thing as "unilateral interoperability"'.

Discussions during the conference indicated that the pressure for interoperability is being driven by the initiatives and legislation developed at European level, which increasingly require cross-border linking of national systems and/or the exchange of information between countries. In addition, there is a growing demand from users for pan-European services. 

Holistic approach

'There are lessons we have learned from our experience so far', De Vriendt said. 'Our approach has to be "holistic" – we need a coherent and more focused strategy. And ICT considerations now have to be included in every EU policy initiative and not seen as an afterthought'. 

Initial discussions within the PEGSCO management committee have already given priority to work on real-case problems and not theoretical ones. In the future, the work programme should be demand-driven. Solutions should focus on the sharing and the re-use of innovative national and sector solutions. New tools should only be developed when absolutely necessary. Concern has also been directed at ensuring the long term sustainability of these solutions and also of the ones initiated under other programmes. 

'IDABC has already proved its value in helping develop guidelines, specifications and standards – a role which is well appreciated by Member States', De Vriendt stressed. 'It is important that ICT-based cross-border interactions between European public administrations are embedded within a common interoperability framework, established by the Commission and Member States in cooperation'.

Objectives

In the Commission’s view, the key objectives of the new programme should be to facilitate cross-sector and cross-border interactions between European public administrations via:

• Development and evolution of common interoperability frameworks
• Assessment of ICT implications of EU legislation
• Common services
• Reusable generic tools
• Focus on sharing/re-use and exchange of good practices.

These must of course be coordinated with other programmes. There should be no overlap or duplication.

Beneficiaries
'Not only will public administrations benefit from this, but the business community and the general public will also benefit indirectly via better services and fewer administrative burdens at a cross-border level', De Vriendt explained. ICT-based cross border cooperation between Member State public administrations must work within a framework.

When EC legislation comes into force, ICT needs must be taken into account and the new solutions anticipated. A good example is the Services Directive where the ICT work should ideally have started a couple of years earlier.

Panel Discussion
During the lively panel discussion which followed, Martin Schallbruch, Chief Information Officer of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, said that IDABC has achieved good results and important goals. 'It has done brilliant work over the past years', he said. 'It has done a good job in the area of cross-border interoperability. It has helped build up ICT infrastructures such as TESTA and has influenced ICT policy in areas such as open document format standards'. 

He highlighted the challenges facing public administrations due to the complexity of their work and its dependency on ICT. The complexity arises from the need to integrate different agencies at different governmental levels, he explained. There is also a growing need to integrate the ICT of the public sector with that of the private sector. 

'The basic data for Governmental statistical services is being generated by the ERP systems of private companies, which are  then aggregated at State level and used for services such as Eurostat. A further area of complexity is that of security. The dependency of public administrations on ICT has to be monitored carefully', Schallbruch cautioned. 'It is a critical infrastructure for all Member States and the EU. And it is important to look at the ICT governance structure when we think about follow on programmes'. He highlighted serious threats to the ICT infrastructure experienced in Estonia last year, when it was attacked every day.

'In Germany, we have set up a chief information officer (CIO) Council', he explained. 'To incorporate proper governance, a lot of processes have to be redesigned. A similar approach is needed at the European level. The new IDABC programme', he suggested, 'could be the core of a new IT governance model for Europe'.

Karel De Vriendt added that the Commission is currently looking at ways to give the CIOs in Member States a leading role in a new IT governance programme.

Lena Jönsson, Director-General of VERVA – the Swedish Administrative Development Agency – stressed the importance of creating better values for citizens and businesses.  

 
Schallbruch agreed that customer centricity has to be at the top of the agenda, in particular eInclusion and high-impact services.

 
Graham Colclough, Vice-President of Capgemini, put the question: 'Would it matter if we got rid of IDABC?  Do we need something like this?'.  
 
'Undoubtedly we do', was his conclusion. 

'But just how do you get 27 bodies to agree to do things in a similar way?' he questioned. The solution is to use the customer to drive the programme and show the way. 'We are generally too administration-centric in our thinking', Colclough said. 

He also stressed that industry participation is vital. 'But industry wants clarity', he explained. 'You get this through collaboration and cooperation and by treating industry as a trusted party. The issue of intellectual property is exaggerated: 80 percent is common knowledge and can be shared by the other 20 percent is the problem. Industry wants to collaborate and make Europe a better place. It is excited about finding a single international solution to replace 27 ways of doing things'.

'We have heard many positive things about the IDABC programme during this conference', said Director General Morán. 'Some speakers have even referred to IDABC becoming a "trademark", which is indicative of the useful role it plays. The work we have done in the past is clearly valued and we all know there is a lot of important work still to be done'.

'The current programme continues until 2009 and we are, as always, committed to effective delivery. Our overall philosophy is continuous improvement. We aim to lead by example. We will be judged on our delivery and our services'.   

Article published in Synergy 10 - Special Edition