21.7.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 257/37
16. notes that interoperability governance is fragmented, especially in decentralised countries, as a result of the voluntary nature of the European Interoperability Framework; underlines the key role of national competent authorities and ‘early-adopting’ local and regional authorities in awareness-raising and in fostering digital transformation in their peer cities and regions; 17. reiterates the need to bridge digital and territorial divides; the Digital Compass (7) target of 100 % key public services to be provided online by 2030 is helping achieve this aim; stresses that providing public service interoperability digitally and/or online is of utmost importance for all regions and municipalities in the EU, regardless of their geographical location, including peripheral regions, remote islands and mountainous areas.
Technology can ensure that regions and municipalities can overcome the disadvantages of their peripheral location; highlights the need for concrete and effective collaboration with insular and peripheral regions in the governance of the interoperable transition; 18. welcomes the activities of proactive cities and regions that are seeking solutions and sharing best practices, working as early adopters and testing new practices; praises the work of the living-in.eu (8) movement, bringing together cities and communities in fostering digital transformation, or Open and Agile Smart Cities, that have been developing Minimum Interoperability Mechanisms as universal tools for achieving interoperability of data, systems, and services between cities and suppliers around the world; underlines that in order to achieve a more homogenous interoperability environment and widely used interoperability solutions, an EU-wide governance system needs to be set up; 19. notes that procurement and tendering of new systems or upgrading existing ones will be burdensome for local and regional authorities, in particular due to lack of expertise, finances and personnel; 20. reiterates the critical importance of interoperability for the digital resilience and strategic independence of the EU: by having interconnected services and systems, a potential digital pandemic as a result of a major cyber-attack on the weakest spot of the network needs to be prevented by using the same or similar solutions across interconnected entities.
At the same time, using open-source solutions will decrease dependency on major suppliers of software solutions, thus increasing the strategic independence of the EU; 21. recognises the concerns of cities, smaller municipalities and regions over the new tasks conferred by the proposed regulation and underlines the absolute need to take their specific interests into account; stresses the need for CoR representatives to be an integral part of the strategic layer of the interoperability governance; intends, through its participation in the Interoperable Europe Board, to ensure that local and regional concerns are taken on board; 22. stresses that it is important for local and regional authorities to obtain specific guidelines from the Interoperable Europe Board and the competent national authorities concerning which services are covered by the interoperability assessment; stresses that a pre-screening of cross-border applicability ahead of any interoperability assessment should be defined and the national competent authorities should be in charge of this; 23. welcomes the emphasis the proposal places on open-source solutions and also on the participation of open-source developers in the Interoperable Europe community.
Having open-source as key part of service solutions at local/regional administration level will enhance transparency, reduce costs, foster cybersecurity and avoid vendor lock-in situations whereby some data that has already been collected may not be available when changing suppliers of services; 24. suggests that the Interoperable Europe portal — or a portal with similar features — serve as a repository of all public services provided online in the EU Member States, clustered by type of service and Member State.
The portal may then become a starting point for any citizen looking for information on how to access these public services online.
This would be an effective way to pool information on key public services to be provided online by 2030; 25.
lastly, notes that the proposal complies with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.
Brussels, 24 May 2023.
The President of the European Committee of the Regions Vasco ALVES CORDEIRO
(7) (8)
https://digital-strategy.
ec.europa.eu/en/policies/europes-digital-decade https://living-in.eu/