The survey will examine what EU citizens and businesses need and expect from government services in the EU, and what public administrative bodies can or plan to deliver, in order to facilitate easy interaction with citizens and allow public services working across borders.

Andrus Ansip, Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: "There is no reason why people have to queue, fill in countless paper forms and pay fees to get just one stamp while it could be done without losing time and money, much more efficiently at the click of a mouse. With our Digital Single Market Strategy, we want to ease the life of Europeans and make sure public services are better connected across borders. This public consultation will help us see how we can speed up the expansion of e-government services."

Günther H. Oettinger, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, said: "Once online, public services become faster, more efficient and save taxpayer's money. Public administrations are lagging behind the private sector in making the most of the digital revolution. They need to modernise and invite all stakeholders to develop with us the e-government priorities up to 2020."

The public consultation looks at the following issues:

Lessons learnt from the eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015

Factors hampering the use of the digital public services

How to modernise the public sector and improve eGovernment services throughout the EU

How to support mobility of citizens and businesses, and make public services work cross-border in the EU

What role the European Commission (in cooperation with national Governments) can play in helping to expand digital public services

How citizens and businesses can be involved the 2016 - 2020 eGovernment Action Plan

What policy principles are necessary for the development of the digital public services

The public consultation will run until 22 January 2016 and can be answered in English, French and German. More details on how to respond to the public consultation.

See also:

Frequently Asked Questions on this Public Consultation

Background

The current EU eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 is based on the Malmö Ministerial Declaration of 2009 which sets out the objectives for public administrations to invite third parties to collaborate on the development of eGovernment services, strengthen transparency of administrative processes and involve stakeholders in public policy processes. The EU eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 responded to these with a range of actions.

The Mid-term Evaluation of the eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 recommended for the following eGovernment Action Plan to focus on a number of priority areas such as open data, collaborative services, interoperability and re-use of Public Sector Information and the once-only principle. It also recommended to move away from a five-year, static initiative to a more dynamic, flexible and iterative approach, in line and in conformity with other relevant EU instruments.

A new eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 is needed to complete the Digital Single Market (see the Communication on a Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe). It will identify measures already included in the DSM (such as a pilot project on the 'once only' principle and another to promote the interconnection of business registers), and the Commission aims to identify further initiatives in consultation with the public and national governments.