Germany, a digital nation? Asked about it, a large part of the citizens would probably wave away in amusement. Applying for an ID card online or authorizing the car with just a few clicks of the mouse: you may be familiar with this from other countries.
The fourth-largest economy in the world lags behind when it comes to digitally available administrative services, ranking 18th in an EU comparison (out of a total of 28). Despite the unfortunate starting position, the federal government now wants to make cuts: Instead of 377 million euros (as in 2023), only three million euros are to be invested in the coming year (see info box).
Can the would-be digital nation Germany afford the cuts? In any case, the excitement is great, even within the traffic light coalition. “More money won’t help us,” says Lars Zimmermann in an interview with stern. The co-founder and board member of GovTech Campus Germany, a digitization think tank, sees a more fundamental problem.
Mr. Zimmermann, when it comes to the digitalization of administration, of all things, the traffic light radically cuts the planned budget for 2024. The digital economy and research are outraged. They also?
No. More money and more staff do not automatically lead to successful digitization of the administration. The last legislative periods have refuted these expectations. Investments are needed, but the organization of digitization is much more important – and less the question of whether one billion euros will be spent more or less. More money alone will not help us.
In an international comparison, Germany has been lagging behind for years, has a lot of catching up to do – and should that be done better with less money?
It is crucial that investments are made in the right places. An insane amount of money is being sunk into expensive large-scale projects and double and triple structures because many different actors are currently working at different levels. If, for example, several municipalities are developing a parking space management app at the same time, you have to ask yourself: Is that money being used efficiently?
What do you suggest?
Basically, we have to transform the state into a platform that everyone can access, solutions based on shared standards are developed and even the exchange of personnel and knowledge is made possible. In this way, products and solutions could be developed together, much faster and much more scalable. Other countries are very successful with this. In Germany, one hand often does not know what the other is doing.
Against the background of massive austerity measures, the Federal Government has significantly reduced the funds for the digitization of administration and its services in the 2024 draft budget. The responsible Federal Ministry of the Interior confirmed a report in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” on Wednesday, according to which 3.3 million euros are planned for the coming year – after 377 million euros this year. However, the ministry still wants to raise around 300 million euros for the area in 2024 by using unused funds from previous years.
According to the FAZ, the cuts in the draft budget for 2024 primarily affect administrative services under the Online Access Act (OZG), which came into force in 2017 and should digitize around 600 administrative services by the end of 2022. In more than half of the cases, however, this has not been successful to date, and in many others only partially. Savings will also be made on the “Digital Identities” project, which aims to enable citizens to identify themselves legally on the Internet.
What about Germany as a digital nation? Where do you see the biggest deficits?
A technology-capable, digital state is a basic requirement for growth and the future viability of an economy – this has not yet been internalized in Germany. The development of a few apps that can save you one or the other visit to the authorities does not solve the fundamental problem: the state not only has to be digitized, but also modernized. Even with the best digital solution, you can’t do anything if it runs on the Bonn Republic’s operating system.
What do you think: When can you apply for an ID card online in Germany or register a car?
At least that’s partially the case. But the question that is much more decisive is: can we achieve a state structure that is so modern that it can solve the central challenges of the future? An example: The state wanted to quickly pay students an energy price flat rate of 200 euros…
…which then dragged on for more than half a year…
…because the state wasn’t able to do it at all. He lacked the necessary structures. Who is entitled to the money? How does it get to the students without extensive application processes? This isn’t rocket science. Germany lacks the basic infrastructure to quickly implement politics in the digital age – without application, precisely and effectively. A digital state therefore also strengthens trust in democracy.
The digital nation Germany has a much more fundamental problem – in addition to the sluggish administration digitization. Sounds pretty expensive right?
Don’t get me wrong: it takes big investments because without investments you can’t digitize the administration. But all that money is worth nothing if the foundation is missing. Our democracy must become technology-enabled. For this reason, investments must be made in technology and the ability to change the administration – ideally in the form of state and administrative reform. Then it also works with the extension of the ID card with just a few mouse clicks.
