March 29. 2024. 4:08

The Daily

Read the World Today

Czech public sector digitalisation kicks off but faces uphill battle


The Czech Republic’s Digital and Information Agency (DIA) has set ambitious goals, but there are still obstacles on the road to a fully functioning eGovernment, such as low salaries in the civil service and a lack of experts.

The government’s DIA went live in early April. In an optimal environment, it would be in charge of the entire digitalisation of the state, including digital access to government services, electronic voting, dedicated online platforms, and even pre-filled tax returns.

But so far, the DIA is not fulfilling its potential due to a lack of qualified public servants, the politicisation of technical issues and internal politics between public bodies.

Although it is unclear whether the Czech state can cope with the challenging digitalisation process, certain aspects, such as the choice of priorities, approaches or staff, can already be assessed.

From e-ID to e-Government

For a long time, the biggest innovation of the Czech approach to digitisation was ‘my ID’, a simplified electronic version of the ID card. It was not a full-fledged replacement, but it facilitated some interaction with state entities, such as access to an electronic health card.

This was before the current Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalisation, the Pirate Ivan Bartoš, took over. His main goal is to create a government agency bringing together experts from the digital world to lay down plans for an eGovernment.

Despite complications such as the Russian aggression in Ukraine, which caused several simultaneous crises, Bartoš succeeded. After numerous political and professional negotiations, the DIA began operating in a limited mode this January and launched its full-scale operations in early April.

“We have long supported the creation of the Digital and Information Agency because it is an important organisation with the potential to help with major transformational changes in public administration where we are running up against departmentalism,” said Eva Pavlíková, director of the organisation Česko.Digital, a community of top IT experts.

But the project is far from completion.

“The DIA has a lot of work to do, and since it has only been operating for a little over a month, it is impossible to assess how it is doing. However, I am confident that the first steps and overall direction are set so that digitalisation will finally gain the momentum it deserves,” Bartoš told EURACTIV.cz.

The DIA’s main project for this year and possibly the next one is “eDoklad” (“eDocument”), expanding the existing digital identity to a fully-fledged ID card on a mobile phone. But despite the technical and financial readiness of the agency to develop the app, the state is still not ready for digital documents.

“The law still talks about the document as a plastic card. This is supposed to change by the end of the year. The aim is for the law to put the digital document on par with the physical one,” Bartoš added.

The regulatory change is meant to anticipate the European Digital Identity framework, an EU legislative initiative to establish interoperable eIDs currently in the legislative process’s last phase.

However, for Eva Pavlíková, a fundamental issue for the new agency to keep up with its new tasks will be recruiting the right experts.

“At a time of low employment coupled with low salaries in the public administration, it will be very difficult without a drastic change in the salaries of experts,” she warned.

In this regard, Bartoš said that they have already recruited 50 more employees on top of the current 200-strong workforce and that the government is working to make the public sector more attractive with part-time jobs and the possibility of remote working.

Time to step up

Experts warn that digitalising documents should not be the only goal of the DIA.

“Contact with the public administration should be fully digital. For example, you will receive a pre-filled tax return, and citizens will confirm or reject it. All this is also in line with addressing the security of our data and respect for people who cannot or do not want to use digital communication for some reason,” Pavlíková said.

A major problem with Czech digitalisation is the need for more skilled workers. Politicians often talk about reducing the number of civil servants or their salaries, making citizens hesitant to enter the civil service.

“Then we come across the fact that one person administers a project worth billions with a salary of 45,000 Czech crowns [€1,900]. This is not a sustainable situation. Digitisation will not do itself, we must have people to do the work. And these people must have adequate conditions,” Bartoš pointed out.

To successfully complete eGovernment, the Czechs would have to change their approach in addition to big plans, according to the director of Česko.Digital.

“Instead of catching up with the digitalisation of the past, we need to look mainly to the future,” Pavlíková stressed.

Read more with EURACTIV

Skills gap puts EU cybersecurity rule compliance to the test

Skills gap puts EU cybersecurity rule compliance to the test