Audit Report: Serious Delays in Digitalization of Thuringia's Municipalities

The Thuringian Court of Audit (TRH), led by Kirsten Butzke, has accused Thuringian municipalities and the state government of serious negligence in the process of digitalizing public services. The report presented by the institution indicates that, despite the legal deadlines having passed, residents still cannot handle the majority of official matters electronically. Thüringer Rechnungshof points out that the digitalization was supposed to cover key areas of daily life, such as registering a new place of residence or registering a business. The audit revealed that two years after the set deadline, the availability of e-services remains at a very low level, which impacts the efficiency of the local administration. The Online Access Act (OZG) was introduced in Germany to modernize the rigid administration and adapt it to the digital standards of the 21st century. This document imposed an obligation on the federal administration, federal states, and local governments to make hundreds of services available digitally by the end of 2022. Thuringia, like many other states, has been struggling for years with staffing and technological problems that slow down this modernization process.

The main point of criticism is the failure to meet the requirements of the OZG law, which envisaged the digitalization of hundreds of administrative procedures across the country. The president of the Thuringian Court of Audit, Kirsten Butzke, emphasized in the report that the current state of affairs is far from sufficient compared to the original legal assumptions and social expectations. According to the auditors' findings, only a tiny fraction of these services has been actually implemented in the surveyed local government units, calling into question the effectiveness of the government's actions to date. Digitalization Timeline in Thuringia: December 31, 2022 — OZG Deadline; December 31, 2024 — Two Years After Deadline; March 12, 2026 — Report Publication

The audit conducted by officials covered a representative group of entities, including two rural districts, one rural municipality, and an administrative community. The audit results are a blow not only to local authorities but also directly to the Thuringian state government, which was accused of lacking adequate substantive and financial support for smaller units. Kirsten Butzke indicated that municipalities are unable to bear the technological burden on their own without clear coordination from the state. „Zwei Jahre nach Ende der OZG-Frist sind laut TRH nur wenige Leistungen online verfügbar” (Two years after the end of the OZG deadline, according to the TRH, only a few services are available online) — Kirsten Butzke via ZEIT ONLINE The lack of progress in digitalization translates into a further burden on traditional offices and difficulties for citizens, who in 2026 still have to appear in person at facilities for matters that could be handled online.