This chapter discusses EU methodologies used for the evaluation of a number of e-government related strategies including: Action Plan e-Europe 2002, Action Plan e-Europe 2005, the Strategic Framework i2010 as well as the Digital Agenda 2020. It highlights differences and similarities between these plans. It is suggested that Europe should not focus mainly on the supply side (track availability and sophistication), but should also investigate indicators that might directly affect the eGovernment adoption. To this end, we have searched Eurostat Database in order to demonstrate some of the eGovernment evaluation metrics that affect the use and availability of eGovernment (eGov) in European Union concerning individuals and enterprises. We processed the row data and estimated the annual average and the annual average change of eighteen eGovernment indicators for the years 2005-2010. Furthermore, the chapter determines whether or not some of the targets of Digital Agenda 2020 will be accomplished by stated 2015. The author's estimates are based according to existing trends to determine how these indicators will affect, if nothing changes, in or by 2015.
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eGovernment (eGov) Strategy of European Union (EU) is outlined in Action Plan eEurope 2002, Action Plan e-Europe 2005, the Strategic Framework i2010 and the Digital Agenda 2020. In this study, the availability & sophistication of twenty basic public services was looked at in the evaluation frameworks of Action Plan e-Europe 2002, Action plan e-Europe 2005, and strategic framework i2010. For this, a four stage evaluation model was adopted. In the last decade, Europe evaluated mainly the supply side of the eGov by evaluating the availability of 20 basic public services by estimating the indicator “Online availability and interactivity of public services.”
In this chapter, we have demonstrated the evaluation of Europe’s frameworks Action Plan e-Europe 2002 to Digital Agenda and conducted a data analysis of Eurostat Database (Eurostat - Your key to European Statistics). We processed row data and estimated the annual average and the annual average change of 18 eGov indicators for the years 2005-2010. Among these indicators are some that might affect the use of eGov. We found that availability of eGov in EU-27 for the years 2005-2010 is high (see Table 1). Here, EU-27 refers to the following countries: Austria [AT], Belgium [BE], Bulgaria [BG], Cyprus [CY], Czech Republic [CZ], Denmark [DK], Estonia [EE], Finland [FI], France [FR], Germany [DE], Greece [EL], Hungary [HU], Iceland [IS], Italy [IT], Latvia [LV], Lithuania [LT], Luxembourg [LU], Malta [MT], Netherlands [NL], Poland [PL], Portugal [PT], Romania [RO], Slovakia [SK], Slovenia [SI], Spain [ES], Sweden [SE], United Kingdom [UK]. Nevertheless, eGov usage by individuals for obtaining information from public authorities, for downloading official forms from public authorities, or for sending filled forms is very low at the same period. This indicates that it is not enough to evaluate mainly the supply side, but Europe should investigate the reasons why eGov use is low.
Table 1. Online availability and interactivity of public spaces services (supply side) of European Countries-EU27 for period 2005-2010 – Indicator 1
| Percentage of 2.0 Basic Services |
| Countries | Annual Average | Countries | Annual Average Change |
| BG | 38 | EE | 3 |
| SK | 42 | AT | 4 |
| EL | 43 | CY | 4 |
| PL | 43 | EL | 4 |
| RO | 47 | HU | 4 |
| CY | 48 | FR | 5 |
| LV | 49 | MT | 5 |
| LU | 50 | SE | 6 |
| HU | 52 | DK | 7 |
| LT | 52 | LT | 7 |
| CZ | 57 | SI | 7 |
| BE | 65 | BE | 8 |
| EU-27 | 70 | FI | 8 |
| IS | 70 | RO | 8 |
| NL | 70 | UK | 8 |
| DE | 72 | EU-27 | 9 |
| IT | 73 | CZ | 10 |
| FR | 75 | IT | 10 |
| ES | 75 | NL | 10 |
| DK | 76 | PT | 10 |
| FI | 77 | ES | 10 |
| UK | 84 | SK | 11 |
| EE | 85 | DE | 12 |
| SE | 86 | IS | 12 |
| PT | 87 | LU | 13 |
| SI | 89 | PL | 15 |
| MT | 93 | BG | 19 |
| AT | 97 | LV | 21 |
Source: Eurostat row data (isoc_bde15ess)