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(And it's much better here in the Netherlands.) Having recently moved from NL -> DE, I can't agree more. Dutch citizens have one account (DigID) that can be us
by danieldk 13y ago
(And it's much better here in the Netherlands.)
Having recently moved from NL -> DE, I can't agree more. Dutch citizens have one account (DigID) that can be used with nearly all government services. Moving within the Netherlands, reporting taxes, etc. is a breeze. There is even a portal where you get an overview of nearly everything (pension status, study loan, etc.).
Here every thing is paper and you have to sign and complete dozens of forms, many partly overlapping. That said, they were all processed quickly and well, and my employer was very helpful in getting everything sorted out.
Of course, one upside of the German system is that it gives (the impression of) more privacy :).
Not to complain about Germany in general, it's a wonderful country.
- sveme 13y agoThere have been initiatives to unify the different government services under one account in Germany, however, whenever someone proposes to aggregate all citizen data in one database, a huge outcry ensues. The basic reason is really that no government entity should know too much about a citizen, so that 39-45 will not that easily be repeated. Sort of security by obfuscation. It is in a way similar to the current google story, google trying to unify all its offerings in one account, thereby making the experience much smoother and helpful, and people refusing this because they don't want google to know that much about them.