Event report

Digital Citizens : Shaping Europe’s Digital Future On 29 th May 2021 the Region of Crete organised an online event in collaboration with Europe Direct Region of Crete in the framework of the Conference for the Future of Europe The event took place in Greek, was attended by over 50 people and remains available on the Europe Direct region of Crete’s YouTube channel George Alexakis Vice Governor of Crete in charge of European International Affairs opened the event by stressing the importance of the Conference on the Future of Europe and the desire of all Europeans to actively contribute to the Conference Citizens, he said, are willing and ready to take a leading role in setting European Union priorities Keynote interventions were also made by Eleni Paleologou of the European Commission representation to Greece, and Costas Tsoutsoplides Head of the European Parliament Liaison Office in Greece The Cretan Governor for Tourism e Government Kyriakos Kotsoglou presented the implementation of paperless procedures of the collective bodies of the Region of Crete and highlighted, through concrete examples, the prospects of the operation for Public Administration throughout the region’s offices A further case of digital innovation was put forward by Apostolos Apladas Program Manager for eID eSigning Services at the European Commission He detailed the operation the types of operations using electronic identities and signatures already taking place and shared perspectives for their future development Constantine Manasakis Economist and Assistant Professor at the department of Political Science, University of Crete, spoke about Open Data and European Innovation in this field Stella Salepi Municipal Councillor of European Programmes Digital Governance of Municipality of Volvi who is also a member of the CoR’s Young Elected Politicians programme, described the Digital Compass 2030 setting out its challenges and prospects for the future The final part of the event was introduced by Maria Kasotaki Head of the Managing Authority of Crete Region, who presented the digital upgrade of public and private sectors through the CRETE 2014 2020 programme and its benefits for society at large Finally, Nikos Moraitakis Information and Communications Manager at Europe Direct Region of Crete concluded by referring to the importance of the event, since the pluralism of views regarding the different technologies and innovative procedures on offer presents challenges of democratic accountability and feasibility.