Romania and the Information Society

Digitization will streamline the interaction between government and citizens and will reduce corruption

Corina Cristea, 04.11.2016, 12:53

The EU risks being crushed by its American and Asian competitors, unless it rapidly moves forward in terms of digitisation and developing its internet infrastructure. This warning was launched by the EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Gunther Oettinger, who attended the “Digital Romania International Forum in Bucharest. We witness a digital revolution today, Commissioner Oettinger added. Digital technologies and services are permeating all sectors of our society and economy, and changing them. Europe needs a common digital market, and Romania plays a key role in the European digitisation strategy, Gunther Oettinger said:

Gunther Oettinger: “In the EU there is no single state to rank the first in all standings. For instance, in the IT field there are rankings which put Romania, as well as the Baltic states, Denmark, Norway, Sweden on the top positions. Romania has a very good place, thanks to its IT infrastructure, good IT specialists, very good physicists. If you go to Silicon Valley, you see that a lot of Europeans work there, and many of these are Romanians.

However, according to the European Commissions 2015 Digital Economy and Society Index, Romania ranks last but one in Europe in terms of digitised public services. A very small number of citizens fill in online forms at present, President Klaus Iohannis said at the meeting, which prompted the authorities to put together a framework strategy to step up the digitisation process in Romania. This is how the “Manifesto for Digital Romania was launched, as an innovation vector and a provider of IT, cybersecurity and smart city solutions able to directly and immediately benefit citizens.

There is a huge gap between the private and the public sectors with respect to the use of information technology, PM Dacian Ciolos warned in his turn. Moreover, he added, bureaucracy is deeply rooted in public administration, which requires a great deal of effort, time and money on the part of the citizens. And still, Romania has all the strong points it needs in order to become a major IT player in the region, in the European Union and at a global level.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)