Almost exactly a year ago, the Federal Government adopted the modernisation agenda comprising 80 individual measures. It is intended to reduce bureaucracy across all levels of government and ease the burden on citizens, businesses and the public administration. The SCCON panel ‘Who is feeling the change?’ will discuss how far implementation has progressed – with an overwhelmingly positive assessment.

Overcoming silo thinking

‘Our outlook is a positive one,’ says Ina Scharrenbach, Minister for Home Affairs, Local Government, Construction and Digitalisation in North Rhine-Westphalia. “We as federal states have a keen interest in modernising this state, in becoming faster overall once again, and in simplifying our processes.” The Federal Ministry for Digitalisation and State Modernisation (BMDS) has “done a lot right” in overcoming silos. “A great deal has already happened.”

Fewer reporting obligations for voluntary organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises

“We’ve made a strong start,” adds Dr Markus Richter, State Secretary at the BMDS. Five key projects have already been implemented, including the reduction of red tape in the care sector. For the coming year, he announces a significant simplification of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for small and medium-sized enterprises and voluntary organisations: numerous reporting obligations are to be abolished.

In early 2027, Germany is set to be one of the first EU countries to introduce the EU Wallet on schedule and subsequently link it to the agent-based AI of the SPARK project. This should make it possible to authorise AI agents to carry out business transactions. “This makes us a global leader,” emphasises Richter. SPARK is a modular AI assistance system developed by the federal government that supports planning and licensing authorities in speeding up their procedures.

AI agents for online transactions

With the e-wallet, citizens can instruct regulated – and therefore trustworthy – AI agents to conclude legal transactions on their behalf online. Richter reports that Germany is already receiving awards for SPARK applications. The AI agents have reduced processing times by up to 85 per cent. “We need to scale this up and roll it out across the board.”

Cutting red tape, maintaining good governance

Mathias Oberndörfer, Sector Leader for the Public Sector & Law at KPMG, calls for dialogue with users. “Modernising the state is not something where you can say ‘mission accomplished’ after two years.” Expectations and technologies continue to evolve. That is why errors in development must be corrected swiftly. At the same time, he warns: “We must be careful not to throw national security overboard in the midst of the euphoria.” Unnecessary bureaucracy must be reduced, but bureaucracy as an element of good governance must be preserved – not least as a competitive advantage for the country.