IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Hungarians may have embraced the free market at breakneck speed when the Communist regime moaned its last dictatorial sigh in 1989, but they have been much slower to get into bed with other fast-moving trends in today’s high-tech world. Internet penetration rates are still markedly lower than in many Western and even some former Soviet Bloc countries. E-commerce has yet to reach significant levels, let alone profitability, and despite some well-meaning Government-supported incentives, the country still lacks a comprehensive infrastructure to take Hungary into an interactive European Union.

What is more, according to a recent survey conducted by the market information company Taylor Nelson Sofres, Hungary is at the bottom of a list of countries who trust any form of e-government, along with former behind-the-Iron-Curtain buddies Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.

E-government basically places governmental services online and allows citizens to perform usually mundane practices such as filing tax returns, obtaining licenses and permits, registering births, etc, via the Web.

Hungarians apparently do not like the idea of submitting personal information into Government-controlled websites.

The report failed to mention if the average Hungarian was any more or less happy to hand over detailed information to a surly bureaucrat at an antiquated Governmental ministry.

Quelle: The Budapest Sun