Within the context of the European Union member states cross-collaboration for the delivery of seamless e-Government systems, the cross-border strategies have flourished during the last few years across Europe. Specifically, worldwide various innovative programs have been implemented and a considerable number of initiatives took place for upgrading these systems or announcing new ones mostly based on advances on Artificial Intelligence. In addition, the integration of new emerging technologies (Cloud Computing, Big Data and Internet of Things) into existing or designing new systems and services, combined with the use of readymade platforms in Europe of e-Authentication, e-Signature and e-Identification opened up a new perspective on cross-border e-government for security-sensitive areas such as Life Sciences (e-Health, e-Banking, e-Immigration, Smart Agriculture, e-Food etc). Meanwhile, the variety and complexity of e-government initiatives implies the existence of a wide range of challenges and barriers to its implementation and management. This paper mainly focuses on identifying and overcoming the implementation challenges of cross-border e-government systems as European governments must make efforts to fill in the gaps and barriers across several categories, including organizational, semantic, technical, policy and regulation issues, such as lack of government integration, privacy, heterogeneous national systems and lack of shared standards and compatible infrastructure among EU countries.
level [
The perspectives of promising cross-border cooperation between EU Member
States can create many challenges, which have already been designed at operational,
semantic and technical level by the European Union. However, the driving forces are
the innovative European Programs (Interreg, One-Stop-Government and
“Once-Only” Principle Projects (TOOP)) [
The need for secure and reliable e-services is a key objective for the European
Union and the governments of the Member States which to a large extent were
treated primarily as national affairs. However, e-government services are in a
dynamic process of Europeanization and very careful steps must be taken to remove
chronic vulnerabilities within existing systems of Life Sciences (e-health, e-justice,
e-banking, e-migration, e-agriculture, etc.) at a cross-border level [
Certainly, now the ready-made software platforms e-Authentication (e-AU),
e-SIGNatures (e-SIGN) and e-Identification (e-ID) and, in conjunction with
emerging technologies (Cloud Computing, Big Data and Internet of Things) shape
the roadmap for transforming existing services into smart cross-border ones, offering
increased security, standardization and interoperability. Along with these
perspectives, the proposed smart cross-border government systems (SCBeG) that
incorporate innovative technological features to be utilised in order to solve some of
the issues which are mentioned below [
It is clear that for transforming the national government agencies in order to
function reliably and fully functionally at the cross-border level, important
parameters of each system must be considered, as each member state of the European
Union has its own peculiarities and unique characteristics. A representative example
is the health sector as it is considered to be one of the most data sensitive sectors as
health professionals continue to face different (potential) obstacles due to
dissimilarities of rules between MSs, various (cross-sectorial) administrative
requirements and unspecified secure way of delivering patients' personal data [
This paper attempts to clarify the obstacles and technical difficulties that may arise from transforming national systems of government into a cross-border environment. Section 2 presents current developments in cross-border systems. Section 3 presents the obstacles and vulnerabilities in the integration of systems. Finally, in the fourth section draws conclusions from the adoption at the level of productive use of cross border systems.
Nowadays, cross-border e-government services are booming, and this is due to
many reasons. First, the need to transform national government systems was
imperative as the world trade is flourishing rapidly, the movement of citizens within
European borders is continuous and the central government of each Member State
was Europeanized, acting as a cross-border bridge. It is obvious that the European
citizen should be able to use any e-government service of his country, wherever he is,
for instance, his medical history, his criminal record, even for a document from the
registry office of his city [
Secondly, the contribution of cross-border cooperation between EU Member
States, known as Interreg A, launches a European territorial cooperation, which is
divided into internal and external border cooperation [10]. This European model
divides Member States into structures, which usually consist of public authorities
(municipalities, regions, counties, regions) from different countries, organized into
working communities, European regions or EGTCs (European Grouping of
Territorial Cooperation) [
European programs running at the moment significantly promote maturation and
upgrading of existing cross-governmental systems, while laying the foundations for
new smart cross border systems that will fit perfectly into European standards and
will face obstacles to necessary and imminent transformation of national government
systems [
The European Commission has taken concrete actions to develop cross-border
digital public services and, through integrated and customer-oriented mechanisms
(One-stop Government and Once-Only Principle Project (TOOP)) [
Clearly, the contribution of European actions is crucial as they define the models
that encourage the design of sophisticated e-government systems to address technical
and organizational problems, and in particular the secure exchange of personal or
confidential information. However, from a technical point of view, the integrated
European projects have left behind important tools, which can ensure the required
security, interoperability and seamless operation of cross-border systems. The
ready-made platforms of e-AUthentication (e-AU), e-SIGNature (e-SIGN) and
e-IDentification (e-ID), which are deliverable of the pan-European STORK 2.0
project, created a single Electronic Identification and Authentication area for Europe.
Expecting this foreseeable development, ongoing European eGovernment projects
are based on experience and previous work from relevant projects (eg STORK,
STORK 2.0, e-SENS, e-CODEX and PEPPOL) in order to fill the existing gaps and
obstacles, for which this document aims to propose solutions [
However, in order for a natural or legal person of a particular state to be able to
enjoy the E-Gov services offered by another EU state, the administrations and their
respective information systems must have the appropriate technical infrastructure to
interact with each other. The following figure shows the interactions required to
enable a cross-border transaction between the public administrations of two Member
States [
Fig 1. Transactions for the provision of public e-services at the cross-border level.
The first type illustrates the process required for the direct interaction between the
businesses and citizens of one state with the public administrations of the other state
(Administration-to-Business (A2B) and Administration-to-Citizen (A2C)) and the
second concerns the process between the public administrations of the states
involved but with the central administration of the EU
(Administration-to-Administration (A2A)) [
Now, milestone in the functioning of cross-border government systems is eIDAS
(electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services) regulation, which
entered into force on 17 September 2014 and is effective from 1 July 2016 except
some of its specific provisions contained in Article 52. All organizations providing
digital services in an EU Member State must recognize electronic identification by
all other EU Member States from 29 September 2018. The purpose of eIDAS is to
monitor electronic authentication and trust services for electronic transactions within
the EU Single Market. It regulates digital signatures, electronic transactions, the
authorities involved, but also the integrated procedures to provide a secure way for
users to manage their affairs online such as electronic funds transfer or transactions
with public services [
Greece has fully implemented the eIDAS regulation, which has been incorporated
in the majority of its public administrations and organizations. As recently
announced by the President of the Athens Stock Exchange, the organization has
managed to deal with bureaucratic issues, while at the same time, as a provider of
Electronic Signature Certification Services, it is evaluated every year according to
the WebTrust for Certification Authorities standard [
For the effective handling of complex cases in areas demanding global security for
cross-border applications, in conjunction with the provided e-ID Interoperability
Framework, which consists of several national nodes acting as pan-European proxy
server services (PEPS) or intermediate devices (MW solution)), the use of emerging
technologies Cloud Computing (CC), Internet of Thinks (IoT) and Big Data (BD)
will offer unique features to existing cross-border systems. Therefore, the proposed
Smart Cross Border e-Government (SCBeG) systems, making full use of ICT
innovations and able to meet the requirements of the ever-changing and highly
demanding cross-border environment [
However, there are similar European initiatives in the field of agriculture, as
efforts are made to remove barriers to agricultural trade between countries to increase
economic growth and access to safe, nutritious food at the cross-border level.
Indicatively, a recent pilot project, AGROPOL, launched by the EC, provides
practical guidance to strengthen agricultural production and the food industry
through cross-border cooperation [
More specifically, the steps that a farmer has to take from state A to state B are
shown in the figure 3. The farmer, from state A, uses the eIDAS credentials, which
were issued to him to connect the web portal (1). The system redirects the farmer to
his national eIDAS node, where the required identification is performed (2) (3).
Finally, the system when identifies the farmer provides him access to the provided
electronic services (4) (5) [
Today, farmers and small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises, using smart
government systems have decisive benefits, have the ability to further minimize
bureaucracy, costs and time required in normal transactions. In addition, with the
emerging technologies (IoT, AI, RFID, GPS and CC), farmers can automate a variety
of processes, which until recently were laborious and required its physical presence
in the field [
Fig 3. Agricultural e-service Web Portal Authentication Process 3...Barriers to the implementation of Cross-border E-Gov Systems
According to the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) and other responsible
organizations working to provide reliable and uninterrupted cross-border government
services, interoperability is mentioned as one of the key aspects. However, equally
important parameters, such as accessibility, security and protection of personal data,
imply a wide range of challenges and obstacles in their implementation and
management. The following figure shows the relations between the initiatives of the
European Interoperability Framework [
Fig 4. Interoperability initiatives to establish European cross-border public services
Ensuring equal opportunities for all through open, inclusive e-government systems
is crucial to making them accessible to the public without discrimination. Interface
design must follow some generally accepted principles in order to ensure access for
people with disabilities and to offer support in a language that is understandable to
the user. The Web Accessibility Guidelines set up by the Word Wide Web
Consortium of the Web Access Initiative must be followed [
A wide variety of languages is used in the services offered in Europe. At the presentation level (front office and Internet sites - the level at which citizens and businesses interact with administrations), language is clearly an important factor in the effective implementation of cross-border e-Government services.
At the back-office level, the basic architectures should be linguistically neutral, so that multilingualism does not become an obstacle to the provision of HD services. If neutrality is not possible (eg in XML-systems), provisions should be made to facilitate translation mechanisms. Three common mechanisms that can address the issue of multilingualism are: a. separated instances for each language, b. shared content with a dynamic language switching and c. machine translations.
However, in the field of machine translations, with the help of artificial
intelligence and Cloud Computing, a cross-border government service will be able to
directly multi-language, based on neural network-based AI translation, interacting
with the user, using innovative techniques such as Conversational User Interface
(CUI), Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) [
Reliable exchange of information is carried out in accordance with established security policy. This is achieved by carrying out appropriate risk assessment actions, before the final definition and implementation of services and appropriate security measures. This principle also applies to cross-border services.
In this case, EU Member States will have to consider their own security policy and reach agreements to define a common security policy and a clear regulatory framework at a pan-European level. Indicatively, it is stated that Article 13 of the Security Council applies to the exchange and promotion of personal data.
However, Authentication Platforms (e-AU, e-ID, e-SIGN), in conjunction with the emerging technologies that have emerged below, have set up a strong security framework, which of course needs to be constantly revised as network security threats (cyber terrorism, cyber espionage), advanced permanent threats, mixed threats, etc.) are constantly changing as vulnerabilities are discovered in both established and newly established systems and solutions are needed to address these threats.
It is obvious that the existing technological achievements could ideally be applied
in the field of e-agriculture, especially in precision agriculture. The US Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released a guide that draws attention to the dangers
posed by the increasing use of technology in Smart Georgia. Precision Agriculture
generates huge amounts of data and related security crises. There are challenges
regarding the use of data, storage method and ownership. Even since the early
introduction of data generating precision agricultural data, there have been concerns
from farmers themselves about how and where the data is stored and used. The data
extracted by farmers are just as sensitive as other sectors and contain personal data of
producers and their staff. Some of these may be the financial status of the farms
concerned, crop yield data, property sites, and more. One proposed solution is the use
of Ciphertext (CP-ABE) policy-based encryption, which could be applied not only to
e-farming systems but to all cross-border government systems [
Cross-border electronic services should ensure a uniform level of protection of personal data, including measures, in which individuals have the right to choose whether their data can be used for purposes other than their original use. Data processing information should also be provided to anyone interested. However, all the above and the work on interoperability should be in line with the latest General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was issued on 25 May 2018.
The guidance provided by the European Interoperability Framework concerns
only the cross-border level of services. In accordance with this principle of
subsidiarity, this guidance does not affect the internal functioning of administrations
and national agencies, and each EU Member State should accommodate the
necessary measures to ensure the subsidiarity of its systems across borders [
A spectrum of new guidelines, policies, laws and governmental changes is needed for the pursuit of cross border e-government systems principles in order to address electronic activities including archiving, signatures, identification, data protection, intellectual property rights and copyright matters.
The forming of protections and legal amendments will be required in order to ensure in addition to further elements, privacy, security and legal acknowledgement of electronic signatures and interactions. A holistic approach which is not focused solely on technology must be incorporated for this effort to be successful. Similarly, new policy conditions and legal reforms may have to be embraced before the smooth functionality of the online world. Significant project complication or stopper can be caused by archaic laws, old regimes of regulation and contradictory authorities.
Cross-border government services have been at the forefront for a number of years now and all indicate that they will be at the spearhead in the future as they offer significant advances in further development of applications in almost all areas and Life Sciences applications such as health, agriculture, justice, commerce and etc. However, key enablers for further penetration of cross-border e-services are security, personal data protection and interoperability. Meanwhile, ready-made authentication platforms (e-AU, e-ID, e-SIGN), in combination with emerging technologies (CC, IoT, BD and AI) offer basic conditions for additional development in specific data-specific application areas, such as e-agriculture, namely precision agriculture.
Interoperability between Member States' public administrations is a prerequisite for the provision of cross-border services. Accessibility, multilingualism, security, subsidiarity, the use of open standards and the protection of personal data are the principles of well-functioning systems and at the same time, the reason for upgrading existing systems to smart ones.
Although in recent years a multitude of European programs and initiatives have been implemented to mature the existing cross-border systems technologically and institutionally, a lot remains to be done in order to remove obstacles and address the issues of cross-border systems and e-government services. 10. Interreg Europe: (Accessed 03/07/2020).
[online]
https://interreg.eu/programme/interreg-europe/