Digitalisation minister  Marc Hansen  (DP) on 11 August presented the main upcoming changes in Luxembourg’s digitalisation strategy. Photo: Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

Digitalisation minister Marc Hansen (DP) on 11 August presented the main upcoming changes in Luxembourg’s digitalisation strategy. Photo: Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

Luxembourg is looking to build on its digitalisation programme after being ranked 3rd in a European Commission benchmark at the end of July. By the start of 2023, the digitalisation ministry will launch 50 new administrative processes and is currently working on new platforms.

Digitalisation minister (DP) on 11 August presented the main upcoming changes in Luxembourg’s digitalisation strategy. A draft law on electronic signature, an electronic wallet (eWallet) and an instant messaging service are the main projects that the digitalisation ministry is looking to introduce.

The eWallet will be introduced in the first quarter of 2023. It will capable of safeguarding state-validated digital documents, such as driving licences and identity cards. These documents will have the same value as paper documents and will be available for consultation offline. One of the government's platforms will allow citizens to get in touch the administration via videoconference instead of having to fix an appointment. Over 400 projects part of the digitalisation strategy are underway of which approximately 70 aim to advance electronic document management in administrations and residents will be able to create a MyGuichet.lu account with the MyGuichet.lu app.

In the shorter term, users will already have the option to receive notifications on their smartphones from the MyGuichet app. Residents will be notified when their driving license is about to expire or when it is time for a vehicle inspection, for example. Students will already be able to receive information on their student grants online and the processes will be optimized in the coming weeks, said Hansen. The ministry is also working on new tools for civil servants in order to speed up some of the administrative processes.

Luxembourg was placed third by the European Commission in its eGovernment Benchmark for 2022 which includes the 27 EU member states and Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey. Malta emerged on top and Estonia placed second. The Commission issued three recommendations to all countries including the prioritisaton of a user-centric design of government services, streamlining interoperability between different governments and setting uo a one-stop-shop for services. Hansen highlighted digital inclusion as one of the main strategic points for the ministry, aiming to make government services more accessible to those will less developed digital skills as well as people with disabilities.

From 2020 to 2022 Luxembourg has progressed by 8 places in the Commission’s eGovernment ranking during a period coinciding with the pandemic.

“It's thanks to our good teams working in the ministry and the CTIA (national information technology centre),” Hansen told Delano. “We did quite well with our small teams and we really improved during the covid pandemic. And we had the courage to issue new procedures, even if they were not perhaps as complete as five years ago when we launched new products. We have a new mentality and we now have to keep it.”

, digital inclusion and e-government development as it advances its digitalisation strategy. It is now looking to build on those and the ministry has advanced well in the digital inclusion aspect according to Hansen.

On the other hand, CNS reimbursement remains a hurdle for the digitalisation and health ministries with residents often experiencing up to

Updated on 12 April at 9.26am to include more information from a government press release.