On 25 May, the government of Croatia adopted its ‘Strategiju e-Hrvatska 2020’ (Strategy for e-Croatia 2020), an eGovernment and government digitisation plan. With this plan, Croatia aims to create interoperable government systems and services to provide eGovernment services and reduce bureaucracy.
The strategy’s goals include:
- using ICT to boost productivity of the public sector;
- providing secure eGovernment services;
- improving interaction with citizens and making government open;
- enhancing economic competitiveness;
- public sector innovation; and
- provisioning of base registries and other essential electronic records.
The plan updates and outlines proposals for policy and actions on government cloud services, shared ICT service, information management, eInclusion, open data and human resources. The report includes lists of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). One strength is the political commitment to building a more modern, more efficient and transparent public administration. This is offset by the lack of a government body responsible for ICT. The European Interoperability Framework is an opportunity. A first threat is delays in institutional reform and a lack of investment in ICT; this will jeopardise European funding for the e-Hrvatska 2020 strategy.
Using modern ICT technology is the basis for transforming the Republic of Croatia into a knowledge-based society, the government writes. Delivering excellent, smart, sustainable and secure eGovernment services will improve the quality of life of both citizens and businesses.