evoice: rationale

Interest in politics in the North Sea Region has dwindled to such an extent over recent decades that the legitimacy of our elected leaders is being brought into question. Figures show that:

• fewer people are using their right to vote;
• membership of political parties has plummeted, and
• the choice of political representatives is narrowing as fewer people put themselves forward for election.

If these trends continue, the proper functioning of the democratic system could be endangered.

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The evoice project is financed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the framework of the Interreg IIIB North Sea Programme and contributions from the project partners.


for more information, visit:
www.evoice-eu.net

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eLoket: the best e-services in The Netherlands

In November 2004, the Municipality of Groningen (NL) opened the eLoket Bouwen en Wonen, a virtual office window for electronic services like, e.g., building permits.

Already in the spring of 2005, this experiment was enlarged to eLoket Groningen, now giving access to more than 200 products of the municipal departments:

• beheer en verkeer (maintenance and traffic)
• belastingen (taxes)
• burgerzaken (citizens' affairs)
• milieu (environment)
• parkeren (parking)

The eLoket is open 24/7; in a chat, a digital assistant directly answers the questions of the users (from 9 to 9), digital forms for permits and licenses are available and - last, but not at least - a citizen has the possibility to check the status of his or her application online.


the eLoket is an attractive alternative for a visit to the townhall