Commission announces €13.7 million boost to cross-border digital public services

Following the successful collaboration between EU Member States, industry, national administrations, academia, the private sector and local communities on a series of projects to make living, working, travelling, studying and doing business across borders easier, the European Commission is making a €13.7 million investment to further develop cross-border digital public services. The new "e-SENS" project (Electronic Simple European Networked Services) will help develop digital public services which make it easier for companies to do business in their own Member State and elsewhere in the EU -including setting up a company, fulfilling legal requirements and taking part in public tenders. It will also link up national digital services for citizens who visit a different Member State on holiday, or for work or study.

Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission said:

"Enabling the many digital public services which we have across Europe to work together in a secure and efficient way is a win-win for everyone: governments can make the best of their on-line strategies; businesses can cut the costs of doing business in the single market; and citizens have less bureaucracy to deal with as they move around Europe."

Here are examples of how e-SENS can help Europeans make the most of the single market:

 

  • Anja has a travel agency in Lithuania, specialising in trips to Portugal. She wants to start an agency in Portugal to organize trips to the Baltics. Through the fully online SPOCS point of single contact, she can find out about the conditions she needs to fulfil and get help completing the registration procedures online.
  • Anja is also about to marry her fiancé. The wedding will take place at his hometown in Spain. Anja will be able to register their marriage online at home in Lithuania with her eID thanks to the STORK module.
  • Karel lost his luggage while flying from Brussels to Athens. He was not satisfied with the compensation which the airline offered him under EU Passengers Rights. e-CODEX means he can start a small claims procedure online wherever he is in Europe.
  • Sabrina is visiting her cousins in Denmark and realises she has ran out of diabetes medication. Thankfully, she can still get medications from the pharmacy while abroad, using the epSOS ePrescription system.

The efficiency of cross-border digital public services will further improve when relying on a backbone of EU wide high-speed broadband. Measures to promote investment in high-speed networks are one element of the Commission's upcoming package to build a connected continent.

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