Digitalisation of Public Administration in Europe: An Introduction

Digitalisation promises promptness, accuracy, interoperability, and cost reduction, yet it also generates significant risks relating to privacy, non-discrimination, legitimacy, accountability, sunk costs and cybersecurity. Structuring the analysis along the Collingridge qualities of inclusion, openness, and reversibility, the paper follows the lines of inquiry of the 2024 REALaw Young Researchers’ Forum and focuses on the challenges of algorithmic decision-making (ADM), including biased datasets producing discriminatory outcomes, opacity in automated decision-making undermining the duty to give reasons, and limited access to effective remedies. It further demonstrates that existing EU legal frameworks, including the GDPR and the AI Act, provide fragmented and incomplete safeguards in the context of ADM. The paper argues that harmonised standards for transparency and contestability are essential to ensure that digitalisation contributes to, rather than erodes, good administration in the European Union.