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How the pandemic is bringing German bureaucracy out of the 1980s

Signs are emerging that the coronavirus pandemic is finally dragging Germany's notoriously sluggish administrative processes into the 21st century -- albeit one very small step at a time.

How the pandemic is bringing German bureaucracy out of the 1980s
The light of a fax machine, like those which were still used in the German Bundestag. Photo: DPA

With coronavirus shutdowns exposing a catalogue of digital failings in schools, teachers in Berlin will get their own email addresses this year instead of having to use personal ones, local media reported on Tuesday.

If a pilot project started in December is successful, more than 33,000 teachers could be given a “business” email by the end of the year, according to the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

The addresses will somewhat ironically be provided by a company called mailbox.org founded in Berlin in 1989.

“Berlin is slowly approaching the technical level of 1996,” one Twitter user joked.

In another throwback to the 1980s, Berlin's Bundestag house of parliament announced last week that it would be doing away with fax machines.

The devices, which number around 1,600 and date back to the parliament's move to Berlin in the 1990s, will be phased out by the end of the next legislative period, according to the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

READ ALSO: Stuck in the 80s: 70 percent of German firms still use fax machines

Though known for being at the forefront of many technologically advanced industries, Europe's biggest economy has long been criticised for lagging behind when it comes to digitalisation.

According to a 2018 OECD report, “the uptake of the most recent digital technologies is slower than in other (member) countries, particularly among small and medium-size enterprises”.

The report criticised woeful broadband speeds and slow uptake of cloud and big data technologies, among other things.

The pandemic has highlighted slow digital progress at schools in particular, exposing a lack of Wi-Fi in classrooms and limited use of digital tools and media.

However, amid the pandemic, more bureaucratic processes in Germany continue to migrate online for the first time, including registering an address in some states, applying for Elterngeld, or parental benefits, and requesting sick leave.

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LIVING IN FRANCE

France to roll out ID cards app

Technology is being rolled out to allow people to carry their French ID cards in an app form - and could be rolled out to other cards, including driving licences and cartes de séjour residency cards.

France to roll out ID cards app

Holders of French carte d’identité (ID cards) will soon be able to carry certified digital versions of them on their smartphone or other electronic devices, a decree published in the Journal Officiel has confirmed.

An official app is being developed for holders of the newer credit card-format ID cards that have information stored on a chip. A provisional test version of the app is expected at the end of May.

Users will be able to use the ID card app, when it becomes available, for a range of services “from checking in at the airport to renting a car”, according to Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market.

All French citizens have an ID card, which can be used for proving identity in a range of circumstances and for travel within the EU and Schengen zone – the new app will be in addition to the plastic card that holders already have.

Under the plans, after downloading the app, card holders will need merely to hold the card close to their phone to transfer the required information. According to officials, the holder then can decide what information is passed on – such as proof of age, or home address – according to the situation.

The government has not given any examples of situations in which the app would need to be used, but has set out the main principles and the ambition of the plan: to allow everyone to identify themselves and connect to certain public and private organisations, in particular those linked to the France Connect portal.

READ ALSO What is France Connect and how could it make your life simpler?

Cards will continue to be issued for the foreseeable future – this is merely an extension of the existing system.

Only French citizens have ID cards, but if successful the app is expected to be rolled out to include other cards, such as driving licences, cartes de séjour residency cards or even visas. A digital wallet is being developed at the European level – Member States have until September to agree what it could contain.

READ ALSO Eight smartphone apps that make life in France a bit easier

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