Public administrations’ digital response to COVID-19 in the European Union: a closer look at the enabling factors

Abstract

Following the publication of the report on Public Administrations’ Digital Response to COVID-19 in the European Union, this paper aims at showcasing good practices regarding the development and/or the implementation of digital solutions by public administrations to avoid the disruption of public services during the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis, looking at the period from March to June 2020. The paper explores the factors enabling the continuation of public services in this timeframe thanks to the development and/or implementation of digital solutions. A three-pronged data collection was adopted: desk research, a survey sent to national representatives of EU Member States, and three country-specific case studies. Results show that many EU public administrations have demonstrated their resilience and ability to adapt in times of crisis thanks to digitalisation. Supported by political and hierarchical leadership, public administrations leveraged in-house digital skills and cross-administration collaboration and harnessed pre-existing interoperability efforts to implement digital solutions in short timespans.