From
John Osel
The state government wants to strengthen the everyday digital skills of people in Bavaria. As Digital Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU) explained on Tuesday after the cabinet, the aim was to set up easily usable contact points for questions about smartphones and the Internet in 30 municipalities. The offer is aimed at “digital beginners”, which does not necessarily mean senior citizens. According to studies, 80 percent of people in Bavaria have a need for further training in this area. The ministry wants to offer a system for this digital tutoring, so to speak, and municipalities in town halls could provide a station or counter for the service. Staff could possibly come from volunteers, Gerlach envisages “a kind of generational project”. It is about how all citizens can participate in everyday digital life – for example with video telephony or booking public transport tickets.
The idea is one component of a cross-departmental digital strategy with 200 individual measures that the Council of Ministers has decided on. In the 2023 budget, around half a billion euros are to be planned for investments in digitization as well as 100 new jobs to speed things up. All areas of life are affected by digitization, it said. The new framework plan is intended to enable Bavaria’s transformation “towards a modern digital state”. And, according to Gerlach: “Every euro from the digital plan will bring us a return.” She will make a government statement on this in the state parliament on March 22nd.
As part of a Federal Council initiative, the Free State also wants to protect the Elster process for identification for digital administrative procedures from being abolished. The federal government wants to phase out Elster in the summer and is only relying on the electronic ID card for identification, it said. But Elster has proven itself in the tax administration for years, enjoys great trust among the population – and is therefore also used outside of the tax administration for digital communication.