eco Association: Current Budget Plans Jeopardise Germany as a Digital Location

After the summer break, the 2024 budget will enter its final negotiations. eco – Association of the Internet Industry denounces the fact that the budget planning presented by the German federal government for the coming year aims to cut spending, in particular for future areas of digitalisation. For example, only a fraction of the financial resources for the digitalisation of the public administration have been earmarked, while the Digital Pact for Schools 2.0 has been postponed, the digital budget remains nowhere to be found, and in many other relevant areas of digital transformation, the overall budget plan sends contradictory signals regarding the future viability of Germany’s digital location.

eco Chair of the Board Oliver Süme comments:

“Digitalisation offers immense efficiency gains and cost savings for administration, the economy and society. I would therefore like to see a sustainable signal in the direction of the ‘right of way for digitalisation’ in the final 2024 budget. The German federal government must not cut corners when it comes to the digitalisation of administration; there must be no further delays in the Digital Pact for Schools 2.0, and it finally needs its own digital budget, as also envisaged in the coalition agreement. Otherwise, the digital upturn previously promised by the traffic light coalition government will end up as a digital setback. Germany will definitely not catch up with digitalisation by cutting corners and making reductions.”

As the Association of the Internet Industry sees it, the federal states and municipalities have a role model function in terms of digitalisation and must be trailblazers in this area. Particularly in the sector of digital administration, important projects are being driven forward at various political levels, and this digitalisation impetus must not be now allowed to come to a halt:

“It’s not just a matter of distributing more funds indiscriminately, but rather about deploying the necessary expenditure quickly and in a targeted manner, especially where the need is most pressing. This applies in particular to the Online Access Act, the modernisation of registers, and digital identities, as they serve as central levers for governmental effectiveness act and digital innovations,” Süme concludes.