The Czech Republic’s struggle with e-government during the COVID-19 pandemic
The Czech Republic’s struggle with e-government during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author(s): Martyna Wasiuta
Subject(s): Public Administration, Government/Political systems, Health and medicine and law, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: OSW Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich im. Marka Karpia
Keywords: Czech Republic; e-government; COVID-19 pandemic; digitisation of public administration;
Summary/Abstract: Against the backdrop of the CEE region, the Czech Republic stands out when it comes to the digitisation of the country’s economy and society. The achievements of its private sector in this field make it one of the leaders of digitisation in the EU. Czech programmers are among the world’s most talented IT specialists, which is demonstrated by the fact that one of the world’s most popular antivirus programmes was developed in the Czech Republic. However, this positive picture of digitisation is clouded by the country’s major delays in the development of public services and Internet infrastructure. The oligopolistic structure of the mobile telephony market is dominated by three large operators offering services at prices that are among the EU’s highest and forms a serious barrier to expansion of the infrastructure. In addition, the country’s delays in developing new solutions, combined with insufficient competence on the part of Czech officials, discourage citizens from using e-government services, which they consider not to be particularly user-friendly. Although the pandemic has triggered significant progress in this field, certain key problems remain unresolved. Another obstacle slowing down the pace of digitisation involves tension within the ruling coalition, which in turn undermines the coordination of digitisation activities in the public sector as a whole.

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