Digital public services in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans: Mid-term multilevel governance appraisal

Written by Claudio Collovà and Velina Lilyanova with Nele Lüker.

This briefing analyses digital public services in the national recovery and resilience plans (NRRPs) from a multilevel governance perspective. It seeks to present the current state of affairs, examine how existing policy is working on the ground, and identify best practice and ideas for the future on the part of governmental organisations at all levels of the European system of multilevel governance. It presents an initial appraisal of available evidence and takes as its starting point digital public services in the NRRPs of Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Greece and Slovenia.

Summary of findings

EPRS initial analysis of measures relating to digital public services in the national recovery and resilience plans (NRRPs) of Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Greece and Slovenia, complemented by additional sources, leads to the following conclusions.

Overall, local and regional authorities state that their involvement in the preparation of the NRRPs, as well as their ownership of the plans, are limited. They feel they are observers rather than active participants in the process, with a few exceptions. These findings appear to be confirmed in the area of digital public services, where their involvement would be essential. The authors of this briefing received few evidence sources on the subject of analysis. The reason for this could be that sub‑national authorities may not easily be able to distinguish digital public services from other strands of the digital transformation measures included in the NRRPs. Moreover, they may not be in a position to know – or provide evidence on – digital public service measures affecting them, with limited exceptions.

In all six Member States under analysis, the top two categories in terms of allocated budget are the general ‘IT solutions, e-services and interoperability’ categories, including at regional level (ranging from 33 % to 89 %), followed by health (ranging from 6 % to 66 %). Overall, transport, justice and digital identity are allocated proportionally fewer funds. Interoperability and the regional dimension are a feature of several measures. When looking at the three largest measures relating to digital public services in the NRRPs of the six countries under review, between 43 % and 89 % of the budget is allocated to them.

Typically, digital public service measures under review in this briefing try to ensure coherence with national plans. However, limited evidence has been found of attempts to ensure coherence with regional strategies. When there is co-funding between EU and national money, the contribution of EU funds is recognised only in some cases.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Digital public services in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans: Mid-term multilevel governance appraisal‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.