eGovernment Dossier
Summary
1. What is eGovernment
eGovernment represents the set of policies and technologies that enable citizens, businesses, and public administrations to interact securely and efficiently through digital tools. It is not just about digitizing public services, but about creating an interoperable European ecosystem based on trust, transparency, and the protection of personal data.
Through initiatives such as the European Digital Identity, the Wallet for citizens and businesses, the data strategy, and new cybersecurity rules, the European Union aims to guarantee simple and secure access to public and private services in all Member States.
The objective is twofold: on the one hand, to foster economic growth and the competitiveness of the single market, and on the other, to strengthen people's digital rights, offering concrete tools for a more inclusive, innovative, and secure Europe.
2. Digital Identity and Wallets for Citizens and Businesses
Creating trust online is fundamental for social and economic growth. The regulation on electronic identification (Regulation (EU) 910/2014) provides a regulatory framework that guarantees secure digital interactions between citizens, businesses, and public entities. To achieve these objectives, in 2024, a regulatory framework for the European digital identity (eIDAS 2 regulation) was adopted, thanks to which, by 2030, 80% of EU citizens will be able to securely access essential public services with a digital identity.
Member States are obliged to provide their citizens with at least one EUDI Wallet within 24 months of the adoption of the implementing acts on the technical specifications. Therefore, in 2025, Italy, through entities like the Agency for Digital Italy (AgID), is actively engaged in developing the national infrastructure and integrating it with existing systems like SPID and CIE. The first EUDI Wallets will begin to be more widely available to citizens starting in 2026, but 2025 is the year of building the foundations and intensive testing.
2.1 The Digital Identity Wallet for Citizens
Both the public and private sectors are increasingly offering online services, making secure digital authentication increasingly necessary. At the same time, threats to online privacy are now evident, and people are increasingly concerned about profiling and surveillance.
The response to these challenges is the EU framework on digital identity, based on the principle that everyone should always have control over their own digital identity. European digital identity wallets are the means to achieve this goal.
The EUDI Wallet will allow, via a personal mobile application, EU citizens to:
-
Identify themselves digitally in a secure manner to access public and private services across the European Union.
-
Store and share official digital documents (attributes and credentials) such as identity cards, driving licenses, educational qualifications, medical prescriptions, and more.
-
Fully control which data to share, with whom, and for what purpose, according to the principles of data minimization and privacy by design.
Large-Scale Pilots (LSPs) are underway to assess the functioning of European digital identity wallets in a wide range of situations before they are launched across the EU. Over 350 private companies and public authorities from 26 Member States, plus Norway, Iceland, and Ukraine are participating.
The first group of pilot projects started on April 1, 2023. A second phase will began during 2025.
For more information: link
2.2 The European Business Wallet (EBW)
According to the EBW regulation proposal, the EU Business Wallets will modernise and simplify economic activities within the Single Market. It will strengthen the competitiveness of European enterprises, expecting to unlock at least EUR 150 billion in annual savings, transforming potential obstacles into opportunities for growth and competitiveness.
It will allow companies to securely identify, authenticate and exchange data with full legal effect and trust across the EU. By using these European Business Wallets, companies will be able to save time and reduce paperwork as its core features will be legally equivalent to performing actions in person, on paper, or through other legally accepted methods.
Businesses will be able to digitally:
-
Identify and authenticate with a unique and persistent identifier
-
Sign, timestamp or seal documents
-
Securely create, store and exchange verified digital documents such as licences, certificates, permits
-
Communicate digitally, securely and efficiently with customers, suppliers, businesses partners or public administrations across the EU
It will also lower cross-border barriers to scale-up and run a business. This is crucial for all economic operators, in particular for SMEs, which make up 99% of enterprises in the EU and which use up 30-50% of their time on administration.
The technical architecture and features of the Business Wallets will build on the one for the EU Digital Identity Wallets and offer secure, and interoperable cloud-based identity solutions for economic operators and public administrations of all sizes across the EU.
The Business Registers in the EU are recognised as the authentic source of information and will be fundamental in contributing to the legal certainty and operations of the Business Wallets.
For more information: link
-
3. Corporate Law in the Digital Age
The European Union is modernizing corporate law to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. The new rules aim to simplify the online creation and management of businesses, while promoting transparency and cross-border cooperation. Digitizing corporate processes means reducing costs and time for businesses, strengthening the competitiveness of the single market, and ensuring greater accessibility to company information.
Directive (EU) 2025/25, which entered into force on January 30, 2025, represents a further piece of the European regulatory framework aimed at expanding and improving the use of digital tools and processes in corporate law, for this purpose intervening on existing provisions.
The Directive aims to improve business transparency and trust between Member States, as well as to create more interconnected public administrations, while reducing administrative burdens for businesses and other interested parties in cross-border situations. It will thus contribute to a more integrated and digitized single market for businesses.
In particular, the proposal aims to:
-
make information on companies (e.g., on partnerships and groups of companies) more accessible to the public, particularly at the EU level, through the Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS);
-
ensure that company data in business registers are accurate, reliable, and up to date, for example by providing for checks of company information before they are entered into business registers in all Member States;
-
reduce bureaucracy when companies use company information from business registers in cross-border situations, for example by eliminating formalities such as the need for an apostille for company documents, applying the Once-Only principle when companies establish branches and subsidiaries in another Member State, and introducing a multilingual EU company certificate for use in cross-border situations. Businesses will benefit from a reduction in administrative burdens estimated at around €437 million per year.
-
4. The European Data Strategy
The European Data Strategy provides the framework through which the European Union aims to create a single market for data: a secure, trustworthy and interoperable space where citizens, businesses and public administrations can access, share and use data in a controlled manner, while fully respecting fundamental rights.
The Strategy seeks to support the development of common European data spaces, enabling more data to become available for the economy and society, while ensuring that businesses and individuals retain control over the data they generate.
The objective of the Strategy is to foster innovation, competitiveness and Europe’s digital sovereignty by supporting the development of data-driven economic sectors and facilitating the uptake of ethical and sustainable digital solutions in key areas such as health, mobility, the environment, energy, industry and public administration.
Trust, interoperability, security and openness are at the heart of this approach. These are essential elements for building a human-centric data economy and strengthening the competitiveness of the Single Market.
Within this framework, the Data Act, which entered into force on 11 January 2024, establishes harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data. The Regulation clarifies who can access data, under which conditions and how data can be used to create value, contributing to the objectives of the Digital Decade and to the digital transformation of the European economy.
The Data Act complements the Data Governance Act, applicable since September 2023, which sets out processes and structures to facilitate the voluntary and secure sharing of data. While the Data Governance Act strengthens trust in data-sharing mechanisms, the Data Act defines the conditions for accessing and using data, particularly in relation to data generated by connected products and digital services.
Together, these instruments contribute to the creation of a European single market for data, promoting more reliable, secure and transparent access to data and supporting its use in strategic economic sectors and areas of public interest.
For more information: link
5. Cybersecurity: protecting data, strengthening business
Cybersecurity is an essential condition for competitiveness and trust in the digital single market.
In this context, on 20 January 2026 the European Commission presented a new cybersecurity package, including a proposal to revise the Cybersecurity Act and a proposal for a directive introducing targeted amendments to NIS2. The initiative aims to strengthen the EU’s resilience, improve the security of ICT supply chains and simplify the European regulatory framework in this area.
In recent years, the European Union has progressively strengthened its cybersecurity regulatory framework. This includes the NIS2 Directive, which expanded risk management and incident reporting obligations; the Cyber Resilience Act, which introduces security requirements for products with digital elements; and the Cyber Solidarity Act, designed to strengthen Europe’s capacity to prevent and respond to cybersecurity incidents.
Building on this framework, on 20 January 2026 the European Commission presented a cybersecurity package including a proposal to revise the Cybersecurity Act and targeted amendments to NIS2. The main elements of the proposal include strengthening the security of ICT supply chains, simplifying the European cybersecurity certification framework and giving ENISA a stronger role in supporting Member States and implementing EU cybersecurity policies.
The proposal also seeks to make NIS2 obligations clearer and more manageable, with the aim of reducing regulatory complexity and administrative burdens for businesses. Overall, the revision aims to make the European cybersecurity framework more effective and better suited to the evolving nature of digital threats.
For more information: link
6. Interoperable Europe
The European digital agenda places particular emphasis on e-government and cross-border cooperation between public administrations. This is the context of Regulation (EU) 2024/903 on Interoperable Europe - the Interoperable Europe Act - adopted in 2024 and entered into force on 11 April 2024, with the aim of improving the interoperability of digital public services across the European Union.
Interoperability enables public administrations to cooperate and exchange data more effectively, including across national borders. For citizens and businesses, this can translate into simpler, more accessible and better coordinated digital public services, reducing duplication, delays and administrative burdens in cross-border procedures.
The Regulation establishes a new cooperation framework for EU public administrations, with the aim of ensuring the continuous and coordinated delivery of cross-border digital public services. It also provides support measures to promote innovation, foster the exchange of skills and knowledge, and encourage the reuse of shared digital solutions.
The new framework introduces European governance for interoperability, designed to create a common ecosystem of interoperable solutions for the public sector. Public administrations will be able to contribute to the development of these solutions, reuse them and innovate jointly, including through tools such as regulatory sandboxes.
For businesses, a more interoperable public sector can facilitate access to digital services, simplify administrative requirements and make interactions with public administrations in other Member States smoother. In this way, the Interoperable Europe Act contributes to strengthening the digital single market and modernising European public services.
For more information: link