The Free Democratic Party (FDP) in Germany has called for “tangible consequences” for government agencies that do not prioritize administrative digitization. The party advocates for a legal right to digital administrative services for citizens. The FDP hopes to create clear conditions and effective incentives to develop services at a high level of maturity. They aim to establish deadlines for the implementation of the Online Access Act (OZG) reform passed in 2017. By 2025, priority services such as re-registration, driving licence, and building permit should correspond to the legally stipulated “maturity level 2.” By 2027, maturity level 3 should be reached.
The existing OZG aimed to provide 575 services related to e-government online by the end of 2022, but only 33 have been achieved. The FDP sees a legal claim for time limits as an “OZG booster.” The party will set up a financing model in collaboration with federal states. The lack of data standards and poor interoperability have impeded progress. Binding requirements must be introduced in municipalities and federal states. The FDP advocates for complete electronic communication between administration and citizens to avoid blockages.
Background processes have been largely neglected in developments, but the FDP highlights their importance for completely electronic processes. Municipal self-government has slowed down, mostly due to individual technical procedures. An analysis should be carried out to determine which administrative services could be offered centrally in the federal structure.
The FDP wants to examine the option of developing open source software to strengthen state sovereignty and avoid large dependencies on individual IT service providers. Digital identities and qualified electronic signatures should be available without procedural or monetary hurdles. The FDP insists on setting completion dates for sub-areas of the OZG 2.0, such as mailboxes or user accounts.
