## 1 Introduction  
### Context: The Digital Transformation of Society and the COVID-19  
The European Council stated in the Lisbon Strategy (23 and 24 March 2000) that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) were the basis of a competitive, dynamic, and knowledge-based economy. This document, also known as the Lisbon Agenda, was the turning point for the advancement of the information society and the birth of e-government policies in the European Union. This project of information society was founded on the creation, distribution, use, and reuse of information through ICT, promoting wider access to knowledge, opening up new ways and opportunities to participate in social life, growing in a sustainable way with more and better jobs, and creating the conditions for greater prosperity and social cohesion [1]. Fifteen years later, the EU Digital Single Market Strategy launched The eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020, with three policy priorities: upgrading the public administration with ICT, using key digital enablers; achieving interoperable digital public services to allow cross-border mobility, simplifying the access to markets, increasing confidence and stimulating competition; and facilitating easy digital interaction between administrations and citizens and businesses [2]. This action plan establishes the following underlying principles: digital vision by default, \"once only\" principle, inclusiveness and accessibility, openness and transparency, cross-border level by default, interoperability by default and trustworthiness and security [3]. The countries of the European Union have designed, based on this action plan and its antecedents, their own national and regional e-government plans, being at different stages of implementation. Simultaneously, the European Union has taken decisive actions to establish an open internet, without which the information society would be a fallacy. This open internet means the recognition of the \"ability of end-users to access and distribute information or run applications and services of their choice\", whenever they comply with legal obligations and do not jeopardize the security and integrity of the network; and that providers of internet access \"shall not block, slow down, alter, restrict, interfere with, degrade or discriminate\" specific content, applications or services [4]. The raise of use and profit of information, respectful of intellectual property rights, to create new knowledge, establish new social interactions and minimize social barriers, would not be possible without a legal frame based on these principles. The creation of a hyper-connected European society through applications, networks and social media in a safe, open, creative, and reliable technological environment is nowadays a priority objective of the general policy and innovation programs of the European Union [5]. The year 2020 will go down in history for the great boost that the information society, e-government and social hyper-connectivity had in Europe due to the social distancing measures of the population, and even confinement, adopted by the majority of the national governments. Teleworking has grown exponentially throughout the service sector. The digitization of the economy and electronic commerce has made significant progress. Public services have closed or restricted physical access to offices and have established that many processes and formalities can be carried out exclusively digitally. Citizens have been forced to interact through ICT to access essential services such as education and healthcare. Social media has become for many people the main means of access to information, the major channel of communication and even in some cases the only way of social interaction. Everything indicates that these transformations have come to stay.