On 28 September 2016, the inaugural meeting of the recently established eGovernment Action Plan Steering Board took place in the National Theatre of Bratislava/Slovakia, on occasion of the Digital Assembly 2016.

Background, Mission and Tasks:

The EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 (COM(2016) 179 final) needs joint commitment and joint ownership between the Commission and the Member States, in order to deliver the vision proposed in the Action Plan. The 'eGovernment Action Plan Steering Board' constitutes the Action Plan's main governance body. It is in charge of governing the eGovernment Action Plan (but not the individual actions in the Action Plan), including to assess and select newly identified actions during the entire duration of the Action Plan and to coordinate the effective implementation and monitoring of the Action Plan measures. The 'eGovernment Action Plan Steering Board' board is composed of Member States' representatives responsible for their national eGovernment strategies.

All 28 Member States, and in addition the four EFTA countries, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, were invited to appoint one representative who is responsible for the national eGovernment strategy as a member of the Steering Board. The board is chaired by the European Commission.

Almost all Member States representatives participated in the inaugural meeting in Bratislava and the amount of implementing power in the room was praised by the Commission. The Commission also reassured the Steering Board of the full support of the Commission.

The following main topics were discussed in the first meeting:

• The internal Rules of Procedure, which are the legal foundation to steer the work of the Steering Board throughout the duration of the Action Plan until 2020.
• How to implement the dynamic nature of the eGovernment Action Plan, in particular how frequently proposed new action should be evaluated, and
• How the European Commission and Member States will commonly work towards a monitoring framework, indicators and targets, in order to measure the status and success of the implementation of the Action Plan.

By way of transparency, all relevant documents, as well as the minutes and results of the meetings will be published in the Register of Commission Expert Groups.

On this platform, you as a citizen, business or public administration, can submit your needs regarding better, more efficient or cross-border eGovernment services or even propose and discuss a solution peer-to-peer or with other stakeholders. At the end of 2016, 6 months after the launch of the platform, representatives of the Commission and the Member States will, for the first time, evaluate all actions, which were proposed until then. This will be done according to a set of 'Selection criteria' on which Member States will identify by the end of the year (the 'Selection criteria' will be published on this platform). At the beginning of 2017 Member States and the Commission will decide which of the proposed actions will be implemented within which timeframe. Feedback will be communicated through the platform.