E-government--a gateway to the future.

Stoiciu, Andreea ; Popa, Ancuta

I. E-government concept

The "e-government" is already a well-known concept, widely widespread in the world, which promote the implementation of advanced information systems, based on the internet in order to support informational integration and to provide qualitative services.

The concept of "e-government", or electronic government, or government based on new technologies, is assigned to a specific set of public management systems and resources which aim to optimize the administrative actions by using new information and communication technologies (Banciu, 2002).

The electronic government (e-government) is an increasingly important component of knowledge based society. In the recent years, the e-government has had an exponential worldwide evolution, especially in Europe. This fact is confirmed by the followings:

a) An increased number of citizens which take part in the on-line process of decision making;

b) Internet has a central role of as a public information source;

c) More efficient and effective governance as the number and quality of government services available online have increased;

d) Increased local, national and international cooperation and also the development plans within areas, such as e-Europe initiative.

e) Diminished digital divide, based on international statistics.

According to academic research e-government concept is defined as "E-government is a digital interaction between Government, Parliament, public authorities and citizens. Information about legislative projects under discussion and opinions issued by citizens, tax payment, completion of complaints and on-line petitions represents the efficient means provided by the government in order to exercise the fundamental rights of citizens (Government to Citizens)."--Ailioaie, Hera, Kertesz, (2001).

From a top to bottom pattern to a bottom to top approach: this is the way in which, exploiting the knowledge, the citizens develop consistent politics, offer support for the economic and social-local development and promote the sustainability (Rodriguez 2002). One of the main impact that the informational and communication technology has on the relationship between the central and local administration and its users (citizens, companies etc.) is, in fact, the potential shift of power towards e-users. Through TIC, the administrations can transform based on efficiency standards or can expand the participation of the stakeholders involved throughout the construction of web sites and user oriented services (Gronlund, 2002).

The idea of an electronic government is also proposed and advocated by the Bertelsmann Foundation (2002), which emphasizes the "balanced electronic government" concept as a result of an efficient electronic administration and the online participation of the citizens. Providing online services and improving the administration using the network technology represents only a half of the entire process. The other important step is the marketing of the participating products, the involvement of the citizens and of the local actors in the opinion forming process.

The e-government reunites three basic patterns (Chilic-Micu, 2002):

--technical approach--refers to the utilization of the new electronic technologies in communication;

--the management approach--with the help of which new information management methods are applied;

--functional approach--which implies the growth in the degree of political participation from citizens' part and the increase in the administrative device's efficiency.

For the appliance of the electronic government concept, a country has to have adequate substructures of the data systems, of the both institutional and technological systems, a compatible legislative environment, human resources properly trained and, not in the least, a strategic thinking and coordination, and most important open mentality of all stakeholders.

Functioning as a communication system between the government, the citizens, the business environments and services' providers, the e-government would permit to administrative structures to sustain the growth of the informational accessibility, centralization and the data and applications integration the efficiency of the decision process in the public activity, the growth of the proceeds and the reduction of the cots (Coleasca 2004).

All the developed countries have worked out and implemented sustained governmental politics referring to the research, development and the adoption of the new informational technology, the consolidation of the national informational substructure, the consolidation of the national informational substructures, the training and the attraction of the specialist in the TIC field, the education of the population, the co-operation with the individual sector, the marketing of e-government projects. E-government uses the information technology as a source in providing public services to the citizens and for increasing the efficiency of the central and local governmental entities.

Various studies (OECD, 2001, Burley-Gant et al., 2002, Sava, 2007, Cristescu, 2010) presented the objectives of the e-government, such as:

* The decrease of public expenses, fighting the bureaucracy and the corruption from public institutions.

* Providing the access to information, consultation and participation.

* The growth of the transparence degree in which the public funds are used and managed.

* Providing all services 24 hours/day, 7 days a week.

* Optimization of the direct contact between the office workers and the citizens or the economic agent.

* Providing relevant content and quality public services through electronic means,

* Strengthening the administrative capacity of public institutions to fulfill their role and objective and to secure the supply in a transparent manner.

* Reshaping the citizen-public administration relationship and the business environment-public administration relationship in order to facilitate them the access to information and public services, using TIC.

* Promoting the usage of the Internet and of the today's technologies in the public institutions.

Many authors (Chilic-Micu, 2002, Colesca, 2004, Vasilache, 2008) emphasize the main components of the electronic government, as follows:

* G2G (government to government), including the sub-category G2E (government-governmental employees);

* G2C (government to citizens);

* G2B (government to business).

The G2B component (government to government) implies the communication between various different public institutions to satisfy the citizen's requirements. This type of communication is often undetectable by the citizen and implies the change of data at various security levels between the informatics systems of those institutions. A study from July 2000, from "The Economist" magazine judged that "one of the basic reasons of the inefficiency in the public sector is--the bureaucracy--it is due to the fact that the vertical organization of the public institutions makes sometimes that the problem solving requires the collaboration between the departments". It is considered that the appliance of G2G would solve a big part of these problems and, most of all, would lead to the limitation of the bureaucracy. This process, however, depends on the interest and determination of each department to create the inter-institutional "bridges".

The sub-category G2E (government-governmental employees) implies the online management of the government--employees relationship using the Internet and new electronic technologies.

The G2C component (government-citizens) summaries bringing the government closer to the citizens. First of all, the aim is to transform in digital format all information, this way the government-citizens relationship becomes interactive. Another feature is that the government services can also be provided online--on the internet web pages of those specific institutions by global governmental browsers. Finally, a very important application of the G2C is the public involved in decision making process.

The relationships between the government and business sector, the G2B component (government-companies)--are one of the most debated relationships from the electronic governmental field. The main cause of the special attention that is given to this type of relationship is, on one hand, the fact that the individual companies represent the engine of the economic growth of a country. On the other hand, the governmental acquisitions and auctions are moving more towards the internet, this fact meaning transparency and low costs.

Using these components, the e-government services have an effective cost benefit ratio in providing public services both to the citizens and to the companies. The e-government services can reduce the costs and save time for the public administrations, citizens and companies, offer a transparent alternative to the administration process and ensure sustainable development. This type of services implies saving of the material resources used by the traditional methods, promoting the use of the green technology, eco-friendly.

II. E-government at European level

Nowadays, despite the high level of the availability of the e-government services in Europe, still exist differences between the member countries, and the access rate in terms of this type of services is low. In 2011, only 38% from the EU citizens used the internet to access the e-government services, in comparison with 72% of companies. The general adoption of the internet will rise if the use, the quality and the accessibility of the online public services increases.

On the European level, as far as the best practices in e-government field are concerned, one could count: HELP--the virtual guide of the Austrian institutions and authorities (www.help.gv.at), initiative of the federal office from Austria which received in 2003 the e-Europe award for e-government, on the section " a better life for the citizens". The browser offers the citizens information about administrative procedures, caring out terms and its fees, and provides the fill in formularies. The services and information available refer to 150 daily situations.

Another relevant example is the engine of a development plan citizen oriented approach of the Danish government DanmarksDebatten--www.danmarksdebatten.dk. The objective was the development of a common platform for all the debates that took place in the public sector, independently if they are on a local, regional or national level, to which can participate the citizens, the public administration and the politicians.

As far as the G2G component is concerned, the most relevant example is REACH--the data exchange infrastructure for intergovernmental cooperation. Reach is an agency founded by the Irish government for the development of the substructure aiming to integrate and improve the public services, in a way that only one access point has to be used. For this matter, Reach has implemented the IMAS service Inter-Agency Messaging Service (www.reach.ie/iams) which allows the electronic data exchange between governmental agents. The first service launched took charge of the data exchange for the birth register between the general register office (GRO), the department for social problems and family and the central statistics office.

Analyzing these best practices it can be summarized that in the European politics' opinion; the digital technologies are used to introduce new ways of thinking, to transform the organizations and work process and to improve the efficacy and quality of the services. They are means of increasing the satisfaction and opportunities of the individuals and of the companies aiming to grow the quality of the life.

As far as the future vision is concerned, by Europe 2020 Strategy the European Committee establishes three priorities that can constitute from fundamental principles of the European construction in the next decade: intelligent growth, sustainable growth and the advantageous growth of the inclusion.

Also, by Europe 2020 Strategy, seven emblematic initiatives are taken into consideration to be developed (pilot-programs, on one sector but with transversal bent, aimed to ease the achievement of the objectives, by special and concentrated actions, developed in key-domains of the economic and social process). The emblematic initiatives include directions and recommendations of actions at European Union level but also at the level of its members. One of the seven initiatives is <<a digital agenda for Europe>>, which aims: the sustainable obtaining of both economic and social advantages from the unique digital market based on fast and ultrafast applications on the Internet and on the interoperability. From the list of the directions in which the EU is aiming, it can be counted: the promotion and the introduction of accessible use of the modern on-line services (such as health), the assurance of a stable legal background to stimulate the investments in the open, competitive and fast paced infrastructure of the internet and of the services related to it, the development of a true unique on-line market.

On a UN level, within UNPAN (UNPAN--United Nations Public Administration Network), works the United Nations Group E7 "e-government for sustainable development". This group aims to sustain the e-government for a sustainable development by using informational and communication technologies, new technologies and eco-friendly technologies. The objectives of the UN group are the following:

--The e-Government strategies worldwide should have a component of sustainable development;

--Efficient exchange of best practices in public administration systems for sustainable development;

--Sustainable development and e-Government as method of reducing bureaucracy and saving the time and reducing costs related to the citizen;

--Development of e-Government for an efficient sustainable economy (efficient governance of health services and protection of the environment). The foreseen impact as regards the achievement of these objectives is the following:

* The growth of the international cooperation in the field of using the electronic services for a sustainable development;

* Strengthening the online international system for public sector procurements, that will help to save significant resources;

* Reduction of bureaucracy and vulnerability of the systems and better protection of personal data and more efficient handling of sensitive information;

* Developing an energy-saving system based on new technologies in order to help the citizens and reduce the carbon footprint of the administrations worldwide.

In order to highlight the strong relationship between e-government and sustainable development, UN subgroup conducted a national and international survey. The study was based on the given information by filling in a questionnaire.

The study objectives were:

* The evaluation of the present perception as far as the necessity and the acknowledgement of the sustainable development is concerned;

* The measuring of the degree of development and use of the electronic public services, the way it is perceived by citizens, by the business sector and by administration;

* The evaluation of the expectancies regarding the interconnection and interoperability of the TIC systems the national and international cooperation, the involvement of the central administration, the transparency of the governmental actions, and the alignment to the principles of lasting development.

The study took place in May 2011 by filling in a 25 questions questionnaire. The questionnaire was bilingual both in English and Romanian, and it was an online questionnaire. There were 674 respondents from different target areas such as:

* NGOs

* small businesses

* big companies

* public local and central authorities

* R&D institutions.

The results analyses emphasized four important elements:

--stable legislative framework,

--resistance to change,

-- transparent usage of public funds,

--the indissoluble link between e-government and sustainable development.

Taking into account the results, it can be noticed that a stable legislative framework is the most important requirement for a strong foundation of sustainable development. Furthermore, the access to CDI infrastructure and the usage of electronic services came on the second and on the third ranking position.

Last, but not at least, an overwhelming majority believe that the resistance to change can be most important barrier in implementing sustainable development policies.

According to the results, almost half of the respondents have considered that the most important factor which has conducted to an unsuccessful implementation of sustainable development policies was the represented by the resilience to change. As it is believed by many authors, the ground for a lack of implementation was not the economic crisis and legislative framework, but the insufficient funds and the people attitudes regarding changes.

The amounts allocated by the authorities for developing and supporting electronic public services are significant, but their advantages are more important that the required investments. One of the most relevant benefits which have been obtained through electronic services implementation is represented by transparence.

The results pointed out huge differences between the citizens' opinions and the real rate of public investment within electronic services. This fact demonstrates the efficiency of e-government services.

On the other hand, in order to underline the direct relationship between e-government and sustainable development, the paper analyses the correlation between these two variables. The results were based on the following questions: "Which are the relevant features of sustainable development?" and "Which are the positive results of intense usage of electronic public services?".

The above charts underline the relationship between e-government and sustainable development. On the one hand, the e-government services have improved the lifestyle and society's standards. Most of the improvements are highlighted in the following fields: health, education, energy, and more others. On the other hand, the e-government services have played a central role in the supporting process of the sustainable development.

In order to summarize the results for the citizens the most important things in terms of sustainable development are the stable legislative framework, the resistance to change and the transparent usage of public funds. The access to public electronic services is vital for sustainable development; and the cost reduction, the control and the efficiency growth are essential for the e-government.

Conclusions

The electronic services are one of the key elements in both social and economic development related to the information society/knowledge based society. This phenomenon brings together public authorities private organizations and, nevertheless, the citizen. The e-citizen is directly implicated in political, cultural, civic and economic life. The orientation towards the quality and accessibility of the electronic public services is a vital element in e-Government. The development and the quality of e-government applications is directly connected with Internet infrastructure. Education is also vital--digital literacy is one of the most supported principals in all relevant global and regional strategies. The perception of the case study respondents comply with the strategy works both national and international, some of the most relevant conclusion of the survey are as follows:

* The results pointed to the correlation and dependence between e-Government and sustainable development.

* There is a strong need to interconnect isolated electronic systems, at local, regional and international level, in order to deliver integrated e-services.

* Key "resources" (such as databases) have to be shared, or at least, it has to be increased the level of access granted, in order to enable international cooperation on various issues.

* Security is a major issue, able to either attract or limit the interest of users in e-services, since e-services use personal and private data and information.

* Resistance to change instead of economic crisis proved to be the major barrier for e-services' development.

* E-services are seen as a solution for cost cutting and increasing the quality of life.

All these are essential principals of sustainable development, the citizen and its needs should constitute the foundation of all strategies and operational changes.

REFERENCES

(1.) Ailioaie S., Hera O., Kertesz S., (2001), "Electronic Democracy and Governance Guide"

(2.) Banciu D., "Information services for citizens in the informational society', 2002

(3.) Burley Gant D., Gant J.P., Johnson C.L., (2002), "State Web Portals: Delivering and Financing E-service", Pricewaterhouse Coopers

(4.) Chilic-Micu B., 2002, "Electronic Governance", Economic Informatics Magazine, nr. 1(21)/2002

(5.) Cristescu A., 2010, " Practical approaches of e-government in Romania and Japan", Faculty of public administration, SNSPA, Bucuresti

(6.) Colesca E. (2004), "Electronic Governance", Administrative and Public Management, 2/20034, pg. 47-50

(7.) Gronlund A. (ed) (2002), "Electronic Government: Design, Applications and Management', Idea Group Publishing

(8.) OECD, (2001), "Citizens as Partners: Information, Consultation and Public Participation in Policy-Making", PUMA Working Group, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

(9.) Rodriguez J. (ed.) (2002), " The New Knowledge Economy in Europe. A strategy for international competitiveness and social cohesion", Elgar, Cheltenham, UK.

(10.) Sava M. (2007), "E-governance, The premise of economic growth at local, national and/or regional level", Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Year 2, Numer 4, 2007, pg 53-66

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(12.) http://europa.eu.int

Andreea STOICIU Institute of Management and Sustainable Development, Coordinator of the UN C7 Subgroup e-Government for Sustainable Development

Ancuta POPA Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business Environment, Managing Authority for the Sectorial Operational Programme "Increase of Economic Competitiveness"

E-mail: ancutzapp@yahoo.com

Figure 1 Stable legislative framework--Hierarchy of the
sustainable development elements

* Stable and predictable legislative framework--27%

* Access to CDI infrastructure--21%

* The usage of electronic services in the relationship
with government--21%

* Aligned tax incentives DO--19%

* The usage of Green IT--72%

Figure 2 The elimination of the resilience
to change--The most important barriers in
implementing sustainable development policies

* Resilience to change--43%

* Insufficient funds--29%

* Legislative framework--21%

* Economic crisis--7%

Figure 3 The effectiveness of public funds--The
percentage of total budget invested in developing
and supporting the electronic public services

* Below 10%--64%

* Between 10% and 25%--33%

* Between 25% and 40%--3%

Figure 4 The relationship between E-Government and sustainable
development--Rank the relevant features of sustainable development
as perceived by the citizen

* Access to electronic healthcare systems--40%

* Access to high quality public electronic services--64%

* eLearning platform--32%

* Providing a stable legislative framework aligned to sustainable
development values--57%

* The usage of the devices with an increased energy efficiency--45%

Figure 5 The relationship between E-Government and sustainable
development--Rank the positive results of intense usage of
electronic public services

* Corruption reduction--23%

* Cost reduction and efficiency and control growth--50%

* Increase transparency--33%

* Increase citizen's comfort--48%

* Fraud limitations through criminal patterns identification--45%