How long does it take to start divorce in yourself Country? In Estonia, the first step of uncomfortable ventures can be made in less than a minute – and even with the anterior spouse, currently, Lucas Ilves is called.
“It takes 45 seconds to reach the point where it says that submit the divorce application.”
Till last year, the Chief Information Officer of the Estonian government, Ilves, told DW that the divorce application is the last section of public administration that has digitized, and it has probably made Russia a small bucket state of the first fully digitized country border in the world.
Even in Estonia, both partners must definitely agree to the procedure and physically present in a meeting with a civil servant that formally ends marriage. But the upliftment of online service is already unprecedented, about 60% of all divorces in Estonia were launched through the government’s so-called e-devices platform Sion, which was launched last December.
“We all expect convenience, simplicity and safety from digital services in the private sector. Why should government services be different?” Said Ilves.
User-friendship is important for acceptance
Ilves are a recent author StudyThe title “The End of Bureaucracy”, which he compiled in collaboration with Frederick-Numen-Foundation, Germany. The report highlights the difference in digitization policy and what Germany can learn from more advanced Estonia.
Currently, around 62% of gersmen use digital service in administration, while Estonia has to increase more than 90%, the report states.
For example, electronic identity verification is a major issue in the report, as 90% of Estonians use national e-IDs to reach government services than 10% of German. The reason for this is simple, Ilves said. Estonian software is more user friendly and provides access to both public and private sector services including retail banking.
Ilves told DW that until a few years ago, Belgium used e-ID technology in Germany in the same way. But it performed poorly, using only 10% to 20% of the population.
But since the country’s banks and telecom operators introduced a user-friendly mobile version, which allows access to both private sector and government services, E-ID uptake has jumped up to 80%.
Greater acceptance of digital administration services helps to save taxpayers’ money, ILVES reports. For example, the administrative cost of collecting taxes in Estonia is only one-sixth of those in Germany.
Bureaucracy with OOP killing the forest
After the general elections in February, the new German government of Chancellor Frederick Merz has established one. Ministry of Digital Transformation and Government Modernization (BMD)Its purpose is to “offer a comprehensive category of services to provide impattus, start cooperation and develop solutions for future public administration.”
Representative of a digital industry like Magdelena Jadara has welcomed the decision. Zadara is the head of employees and strategies in the German Digital Service, a government agency that develops and implements software to digitize administrative processes.
Talking with DW, she said what is “optimistic” about the new digital ministry because it tries to digitize services “end-to-end,” cutting the least endless trips.
“If I wanted to come to Germany to work from a country outside the European Union, I would have to interact with five separate government agencies to approve my diploma, and they probably also ask for the same data,” he quoted as an example.
He has a solution to the problem in his mind that is the so-called once-time-principle (OOP) of Estonia, which means that citizens and business only once to provide information to public authorities, and that data can be reusted and that data can be used internally by all officers.
OOP is one of the pillars of the digital government in Estonia and even in the law.
Another identity of the modern administration of Estonia is digital signature, which is widely used to sign everything from employment contracts to voting in national elections.
Estonia-Russian businessman Kiril Solovazov says he first used electronic signature when he got a so-called Estonian e-residentity in 2015-the 11-ORD-government released by the Digiti Entertainment Global Entertainment global entrepreneurs.
“Digital signature was therefore present in Russia at that time, but I never had to undergo verification process. In Estonia, you just receive [e-ID] Card, plug it in, and it works – it’s magic, “he told DW.
Jump on top with a ‘tiger leap’
Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – achieved their freedom from the East Soviet Union in 1991.
First thing was not Estonia Tiger leap,
In the year 2000, the country of 1.4 million people made another major jump in digitalization when the announcements were made available and the electronic signature was legally recognized as equal to the ink signature.
By 2015, all major public services, including health and social services, were fully digital.
Kiril Solovjov says that all new services have his favorite digital tips. Once a doctor prescribes a drug, he explains, it automatically terminates in the online registry, and can be accessed from any pharmacy in Estonia – and also since a few years from neighboring Finland.
“You just take out your ID card … The pharmacist sees what has been done really and you have different options. The common thing with doctors is that there is no illegal handwriting. It’s easy, safe and sharp – as well as no tampering,” Hey said.
Europe’s digital dependence
Solovjov as online security, or digital tampering calls it, is still a major concern for MPs in other European countries and the European Union Commission in Brussels.
This is why European technology industry is calling MPs to reduce Europe’s dependence on the discovery of American technical giants as Google, Microsoft or Amazon. He warned the Commission of European Union against the Block’s Digital Markets Act against their dominance as water.
In addition, they are emphasizing for a so -called development Eurosac As a European option for technical sovereignty. A “stack” refers to a layered architecture of interconnected technology components – hardware, software, networking protocols and infrastructure – which create a complete digital platform together, The Eurostac will include sovereign Artificial Intelligence (AI), Open Source Ecosystem, Green Supercomputeing, Data Commons and a sovereign cloud.
Luukas ILVES digitization, especially in end-to-end applications, is doubted about the initiative and warning of high opportunities for “starting the wheel”.
“No country can be Autarkic and completely sect in the digital world. In Estonia, we have never created an end-to-end Estonia stack, but very specific applications and protocols on top of the global technology stack,” said.
However, at the same time, he admitted that Europe needs to focus more on the “very specific risk” to digitize all aspects of public life.
Edited by: Uwe Hessler and Kristie Pladson
