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eGovernment in the European Union May 2015Information Strategy and eGovernment in theEuropean CommissionMain strategic objectives and principlesA Two-Tier Approach towards Modern AdministrationsThe European Commission follows a two-tier approach. At a political level, the Europe2020 economic strategy and the Digital Agenda for Europe flagship initiative aim to deliversustainable economic and social benefits from a Digital Single Market based on fast andultra-fast Internet and interoperable applications.Open GovernmentThe open government approach is based on increasing information and knowledgeexchange, enhanced connectivity, openness and transparency in order to help publicadministrations become more efficient and effective, provide user-friendly services andreduce costs and administrative burden. The availability of open data can facilitate thecreation of new services, and stimulate new markets, businesses and jobs by adding valueto the original data provided by government.An open government will support ICT-enabled public sector innovation; improving theefficiency, effectiveness and quality of public services by introducing new processes,products, services and methods of delivery enabled by ICT. It is calculated that the full useof big data in Europe’s 23 largest governments can reduce administrative costs by 15% to20%.Open Government is part of a Vision for Public Services, aiming at outlining the long-termvision for a modern and open public sector and the way public services may be delivered inan open government setting (enabled by ICT), i.e. how public services may be created anddelivered seamlessly to any citizen and business at any moment of time.Open Source StrategyThe European Commission has reviewed its internal Open Source Software strategy. Itaddresses the procurement of open source software and the Commission's contribution toopen source software projects. The strategy also provides for more software developedwithin the Commission to be published as open source.In March 2015, the renewed strategy for internal use of open source software in theCommission was published.Virtually all European governments and most of European Union’s public authorities at local,regional, national and European levels are engaged in modernising and even transformingthemselves, through eGovernment.The European Commission itself is promoting and following this track in order to supportEuropean integration in the most efficient manner. For the support of the integrationprocess, a series of ICT-related actions have already been put in place. Several dataexchange programmes between public administrations, established in the eighties, as wellas the IDA, IDABC and currently the ISA programme have significantly contributed to theEuropean integration and most of its policies. Additionally, the establishment of the ISA 2programme is under approval, as the proposal for a new programme was adopted by theEuropean Commission on 26 June 2014.[15]