Digitization: Who is responsible and if so, how many?
(Photo: imago images/photothek)
Digital politicians from the traffic light parties defend that digitization will remain spread across several ministries. “A digital ministry cannot be a panacea for poor coordination,” said the digital policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Jens Zimmermann, in the Handelsblatt.
In the last legislative period, however, there was a lack of cooperation between the responsible ministers on digital issues, explained Zimmermann. The new coalition wants to do that differently.
The traffic light continues to rely on shared responsibilities in digital policy. According to the organizational decree of the federal government, Volker Wissing’s “Digital and Transport” ministry will probably have to share many digital topics with other ministries. The final decision as to which department gets which department will probably be delayed further.
Meanwhile, Maik Außendorf, digital politician for the Greens, welcomes the fact that the ministries have agreed on “the distribution of topics and, above all, on a cooperative way of working”. According to Außendorf, a new and independent Digital Ministry would not have solved the problem of cross-sectional responsibility, but rather made it worse.
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Criticism, on the other hand, comes from the opposition. “I currently have the feeling that too many self-appointed digital ministers are at work and that the Federal Chancellery has little ambition to take over control,” says Nadine Schön, digital politician of the CDU. For example, it is unclear who in Brussels represents German interests in the legislative packages in the digital sector. When it comes to modernizing the state and administration, it is not yet clear who will take on the issue in the future, criticizes Schön.
The digital associations, many of whom had called for an independent digital ministry during the election campaign, have become disillusioned. “The decision has been made and there is no point in discussing it further,” says Dirk Freytag, President of the Federal Association of the Digital Economy (BVDW).
responsibility in the Chancellery
For the BVDW, the bundling of competences and responsibilities are in the foreground and not the formal structures. According to Freytag, this responsibility lies primarily with the Chancellery: “Digitization in companies succeeds when it is a matter for the boss, and that’s how it will be in politics too.”
Oliver Süme, Chairman of the Association of the Internet Industry eco, calls for the detailed questions of departmental divisions to be clarified in a timely manner in order to then be able to develop a digitization strategy that is as consistent as possible for Germany.
However, Daniel Abbou, Managing Director of the Federal Association of Artificial Intelligence, is of the opinion that the question of which ministry has which department is primarily relevant internally. “But it’s about how they are equipped, financially and in terms of staff,” says Abbou. The federal government must therefore show in the next few months that the announcement of promoting digital policy will also lead to real projects.
More: Wrangling over digital responsibilities – Digital Minister Wissing has to relinquish power