Local and regional governments as service providers

The digital era is transforming our societies and our economies. The arrival of the internet and digital technologies has introduced new ways of delivering public services such as healthcare or public administration. It has also had a crucial impact on the way local and regional governments manage citizens’ personal data.

Public services providers, like local governments, education employers or railway companies, are key actors in the way towards the digital economy, and more specifically, in the delivery of the EU Digital Single Market strategy. The latter should therefore be built in partnership with the public services employers.

To this aim, members of the Public Services’ Employers’ Forum (PSEF) adopted a joint declaration on 16 March 2016, in view of the Tripartite Social Summit. Through this declaration, PSEF members:
 

• Call upon the European Commission to take an inclusive approach and to involve all public services employers from the design to the implementation to ensure a quick roll out of the EU Digital Single Market Strategy.  

 

• Call upon the EU institutions to ensure a level playing field allowing all actors to fully take advantage of digitalisation in a fair regulatory environment. The regulatory framework should also promote innovation in public services by guaranteeing users’ privacy rights  

 

• Call for an active dialogue with social partners. Considering the rapid and continued pace of change brought about by digitalisation, the Commission and the Member States, in cooperation with the social partners, should monitor the impact of digitalisation on jobs and working conditions and its impact on work-life balance

The joint declaration was presented in view of the upcoming meeting between the EU institutions and employers’ and workers’ representatives (Tripartite Social Summit), on 16 March 2016.