Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

Part One: Telework and Public Administrations

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Policy Environment at European Level
When the European Commission started to show interest in the issue of telework in the late 1980s,
first initiatives taken were research on telework in rural areas, social and psychological aspects,
the impact of telework on business and a number of awareness raising and stimulation actions.
The majority of such supranational activities followed the paradigm of economic growth and
competitiveness. The White Paper on ‘Growth, Competitiveness, Employment, the Challenges
and Way Forward into the 21st Century’ launched in 1993 and adopted as an ‘Action Plan’ in
1994
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, can be regarded as the first milestone highlighting the relevance of Europe's role in a so-
called global ‘Information Society’. It is essentially a policy document reacting to the USA's
predominance regarding worldwide ICT-markets and as expressed by the establishment of a
North American Information Highway.
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A High Level Group of industrialists chaired by Commissioner Martin Bangemann (DG XIII)
identified telework as the first of ten applications for future economic development. In the
framework of these aspirations, the liberalisation of the telecom sector was achieved, and
deregulation and competitiveness as core principles have guided ICT-development within the ‘4th
Framework Program (1994-1998) for European Research and Technology Development (RTD)’
and via the ‘European Structural Funds’. In following up the ‘Action Plan’ in 1995 the