That is according to Polands minister of digital affairs, Janusz Cieszynski.

He believes the EU needs to shift its digital policy focus to helping Europeans interact with government services.

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Poland wants EU to stop sleeping on digital IDs

The ministry has also updated the app to allow Ukrainian refugees in Poland to upload and store their documents.

The European Commission hasfocused heavily on tackling Big Techwith several new regulations.

I think its just [that] the Brussels bureaucracy is too detached from the citizens and their base.

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I think thats the thing.

A spokesperson for the European Commission declined to comment on the ministers remarks.

The Commission proposed legislation for a secure digital ID system in 2021 that would be in effect by 2030.

Now the proposal must weave its way through the usual EU law-making hurdles.

E-government services

Estonia is often held up as a bastion of how to implement digital services.

A forthcoming change in Estonias digital policies will allow for the completion of divorce proceedings online.

But pushing that agenda can be challenging.

The government has contracted Estonian IT services firm Nortal to build several of its digital public services.

The prerequisite to any of these things working is having a leader with the political will.

It is common for public bodies to outsource development to private companies.

However, Cieszynski believes that it is imperative for governments to bring as much tech development in-house as possible.

We work a lot with vendors.

Currently, Cieszynskis department has 1,400 people working on e-government services.

Will political mandate cycles shift priorities?

The ministerstated that e-government and digital IDs should be front of mind for the next European Commission.

With that, so could priorities when it comes to digital policies.

As for the European Commission, its mandate is up in less than a year.

Rumours abound that Thierry Breton will be seeking the top job of Commission President.

But just what will the next Commissions priorities be?

During his keynote speech in Tallinn, Breton dropped one or two hints when talking about supercomputers andquantum.

One of my favourite subjects, quantum.

This is something we will push hard and will be a very interesting subject for the next Commission.

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