The German government’s modernisation agenda: driving digitalisation and cutting red tape

A state that is faster, more digital and more able to act – the German government has set itself an ambitious goal. With its modernisation agenda for the state and administration at national level, the government approved an ambitious, cross-departmental roadmap for state reforms at the beginning of October. The agenda is intended to reduce the burden on businesses and citizens and simplify administrative processes. It aims to increase the trust citizens hold in the state and its ability to act.

The modernisation agenda identifies five specific fields of action: a noticeable reduction in bureaucracy, better law-making, citizen- and company-centred service, future-oriented personnel development and strategic personnel management as well as more efficient administration at national level. More than 80 individual cross-departmental measures are to be implemented step by step in these areas of action during the current legislative period and reviewed on a regular basis. Priority will be given to projects with direct benefits for citizens and companies.

On top of this, the modernisation agenda defines 23 central leverage projects. These are measures that are intended to bring direct improvements for citizens and companies and thus make an especially important contribution to the goals of the modernisation agenda. The projects serve as role models for the entire agenda and can be scaled up, re-used or transferred. These include a 24-hour service for setting up new companies, digital driving and vehicle licences, the use of artificial intelligence in administrative and court processes, fast-track housing construction and ongoing innovations through experimentation clauses.

Digitalisation and a new self-image for administrative bodies

Modernisation should become tangible for companies and citizens in their daily lives. One of the agenda’s key concerns is thus to achieve wide-reaching digitalisation of the administration. Proceedings, permits and provision of documentary evidence are to be handled completely in electronic form in the future. Standardised interfaces, central portals and standardised data formats are to harmonise the enforcement of laws. The result is that communication by companies and citizens with the authorities should be faster, paperless and more transparent.

For the administration, this means having to completely restructure the way they work. Local and federal authorities will have to modernise their IT systems, harmonise interfaces and provide targeted training for staff. While digital transformation driven by the modernisation agenda calls for new technology, it also calls for the administration to see itself in a new light – moving away from just processing files to carrying out process management and becoming service-oriented.

Eliminating bureaucracy and improving legal enforcement

Another goal of the modernisation agenda is to noticeably reduce bureaucratic burdens. EU law is to be implemented without bureaucratic over-fulfilment with immediate effect, documentation and reporting obligations are to be reduced, administrative procedures accelerated and superfluous regulations removed. Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular are to benefit by simplifying processes and making fee models more transparent. This is expected to lead to a total reduction in the costs of bureaucracy of 25 per cent for the economy.

The modernisation agenda also contains new instruments designed to systematically monitor bureaucratic burdens. There are to be fewer exceptions to the “one in, one out” rule, according to which every new burden has to be offset by eliminating another rule. The government is using this approach to prevent new rules on digitalisation from neutralising the beneficial effects. Over the longer term, a “one in, two out” rule is to be introduced. Citizens will be able to use a digital bureaucracy reporting portal to make constructive suggestions.

Legislation is to be geared more towards practicality. A mandatory “practical check” and new bureaucracy monitoring are intended to ensure that new rules and regulations are simple, digitally implementable and economically viable. Regulatory processes could become more transparent and evidence-based as a consequence.

Service-oriented and efficient administration

In future, the government wishes to provide administrative services digitally, efficiently and in an addressee-orientated manner in order to provide citizens and companies with modern access to the state. Public services are the central interface between administration and society and should play a key role in shaping the trust of citizens and companies in the state’s ability to act and its expertise.

The modernisation agenda introduces binding quality criteria for good service and establishes procedures for continuous evaluation and improvement. The service experience for all those involved is to be durably improved with the help of combined contact points and systematic user feedback. Service audits are to be carried out for selected administrative services.

Last but not least, the administration itself is to be reorganised. Personnel and competences are to be reallocated to digital tasks, hierarchies are to be reduced and authorities are to be more closely networked. The German government wants to cut eight per cent of its staff by 2029. The aim is to modernise national administration in such a way that it will be working with fewer staff but greater efficiency by 2029.

State modernisation by the federal government?

The German government’s modernisation agenda offers opportunities for faster procedures, digital administration and better laws. However, under the German constitution, implementing federal laws is often the task of the regional states, especially the local authorities. The modernisation agenda therefore only covers one level of the German state. To extensively modernise the entire country, the regional states would have to be involved, which would require a reform of federal structures. Being aware of this, politicians have expressly limited the modernisation agenda to the state and administration at national level up to now.

Yet this does not mean that the German government’s reform programme will become less important. Nine out of ten companies feel hampered by bureaucracy. More than 80 per cent of citizens believe that the state does not make their lives easier. The fact that the government wants to change these figures, which it itself cites, is to be greeted with open arms. To ensure that the reforms are successful, the government should trust the experience of its citizens and businesses when implementing the changes. After all, it is frequently them who know best how the state can become fast, digital and capable of acting.