All lessons focus on the situation in European Small States involved in this Erasmus+ project. These are, in alphabetical order: Andorra, Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, and San Marino.

Country reports for this lesson were presented at the Erasmus+ meeting on 23 April 2021 in Estonia (virtual format).

... let us see if you have ever reflected about the content of this lesson. So we start with a few introductory questions. You will receive answers as the course progresses.

In the following chapters we will go into some aspects of European small states in more detail. Please note that you will find more details in other lessons.

You can learn more about:

• Participation and Services
• Digitalisation and Covid-19
• Challenges to Small States

At the end of this lesson, we also offer numerous links which you are welcome to select to deepen your knowledge. There you will also find presentations on all our small states with additional in-depth information regarding this lesson.

The UN are measuring the development of e-government in its member states by using an index. According to the homepage of the UN's Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government the so-called E-Government Development Index (EGDI) "presents the state of E-Government Development of a state. Along with an assessment of the website development patterns in a country, the E-Government Development index incorporates the access characteristics, such as the infrastructure and educational levels, to reflect how a country is using information technologies to promote access and inclusion of its people. The EGDI is a composite measure of three important dimensions of e-government, namely: provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity."

Among the European small states in consideration, Estonia made yet another jump from 20 (2010) to 3^rd position in the UN's 2020 EGDI ranking. Only Denmark and the Republic of Korea are (still) ahead of Estonia.

Iceland barely misses out on the top ten and is ranked 12th in 2020, 10 places better than ten years before. Cyprus improved even more, jumping up from 42 to 24. Malta is not that far away (number 22), while Liechtenstein lost a few ranks (-8) as did Luxembourg (-8). Montenegro, Andorra and San Marino rank below the 70 top E-Government states.

Table: European small states' ranking in the UN E-Government development Index (EGDI) 2020

If we take a closer look, we'll see that Estonia has pushed hard in the last decades to become a world-leading "e-nation". E-voting has been introduced in Estonia already back in 2005 with remarkable success, and Estonia remains one of the few countries where voters can cast (almost) every vote electronically. Moreover, there is a digital ID, a digital signature, and digital access to almost all public services. Additionally, draft legislation can be consulted digitally, while petitions to the parliament and local governments can be put through electronically.

Iceland too introduced a digital ID and a digital signature. E-voting is possible in local (municipal) elections. Almost all public services are digitally accessible.

While essentially all states enabled some form of digital consultation of draft legislation and made some or even most public services accessible through the Internet, e-voting is nowhere else available than in Estonia and Iceland. In some countries ordinary petitions can be sent by email though. An e-ID exists in Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein (introduced in spring 2020), Luxembourg, Malta, and Montenegro.

As the joke goes, it wasn't the CEO or CIO who pushed digitalisation hardest in a given company, but rather Covid-19. The pandemic has accelerated digitalisation processes in most, if not all small states – with varying success though. While existing digital services have been improved and widened in basically all states, a tracing app hasn't been introduced everywhere. In some countries, there was no tracing app because of the high cross-border mobility and the possibility of using an app from a neighbouring country (e.g., San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra). In other countries, a tracing app was offered, but the app was rather poorly used and, thus, missed its goals.

There is one specific challenge to small states, exemplified by the fact that quite a few of the nine small states considered here had to rely on a foreign tracing app during the Corona pandemic: small states' human and material resources are limited. And consequently, there are limits to specialization. Sound and highly sophisticated e-solutions cannot be found in the short term, and quite often a more convenient alternative exists: the outsourcing of e-solutions by using those of a larger neighbouring state.

Another challenge isn't specifically a small state's challenge, but rather applies to all states, namely building trust in e-solutions in general. While digital access to public services is widely accepted within the public, e-voting is still regarded critically by a significant share of the population.

In fact, there is a wide range in the area of digitalisation where the individual small European states are positioned. While Estonia is ranked third in the world by the UN, San Marino is far behind in 96th place. This ranking also reflects the level at which digitalisation has already gained a foothold in the public sector. It is not surprising that Estonia and Iceland have introduced e-voting at national and/or local level, while the other states are still waiting. The resources of the states also play a role. It is not astonishing, for example, that San Marino, Liechtenstein and Andorra, which are very small in terms of population, have not developed their own tracing app against the Covid-19 pandemic, but have cooperated closely with their immediate neighbours.

Okay. Then let's see what you could remember from this lesson. Please tick the appropriate answer and you will see whether you are right or wrong.

Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein
Government of Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein Tourism/Marketing
Liechtenstein Institute