Conclusions of the round table on The Reform of Public Administration in the context of the proposed amendments to the Law on Civil Service (Sarajevo, 03.11.2015.)

The general conclusions of the round table is that BiH needs a professional, politically neutral, competent, effective and, most of all, responsible public administration which shall be at the service of citizens and make cost savings. It is concluded that the amendments to the Law on Civil Service of the FBiH, as well as identical solutions prepared at the level of BiH, represent a reason for concern since they are not going in this direction, and that the process of rationalization and reorganization of the civil service is introducing an additional politicization. It was emphasized that the proposed amendments were completely contrary to the principles contained by the Public Administration Reform Strategy, and conclusions insisted on for years by the European Union and SIGMA. Instead of eliminating shortcomings in the functioning of public administration, these amendments actually dismantle the system of public administration. It is necessary to emphasize that the existing system of public administration has provided mechanisms for ensuring the efficiency of the work of civil servants, but they have never been completely used.

Beside the controversial content of this legal solution, it was pointed out that especially worrying is the method used to draft and adopt the proposed legal amendments since this is a very important law. In fact, the same was adopted in an urgent procedure, along with the implementation of the legal violence, violation of procedures, disregard of opinions and attitudes of the experts, the Legislative Office and the relevant commissions of the FBiH Parliament. Although the authorities are trying to present these amendments as rationalization, it is very likely that these legal solutions will be additional financial burden to already expensive public administration, especially when the same solutions are adopted by the lower levels of the government.

The discussion on the Law on Civil Service adopted at the level of FBiH, and prepared at the level of BiH institutions, resulted in the following conclusions:

• The current trend in the amendments to the Law on Civil Service is harmful, and it opens door to the irresponsible individuals to improperly influence public administration. The question is what will be the consequences of the disputed decision on the system of public administration and society in general, since the public administration should be predictable in their work;
• Professional, unbiased and politically neutral public administration are the key principles which should be amended through: the personnel policy, employment process, selection procedure of candidates, and development of units for human resources management, in accordance with the provisions of the Strategy for public administration reform;
• It is necessary to examine the constitutionality and legality of the law adoption at all levels of government, and to use the current mechanisms to review the constitutionality and legality at all levels of government;
• Public debate and discussion on the legal amendments between the government and civil society, academia and experts on the identification of reform priorities must be performed with the aim of finding the most optimal solutions;
• It is necessary to ensure that the efficiency of civil servants is given enough attention and that the question of efficiency should be resolved through better management performed by the head of the institution.

Considering the defined conclusions, TI BiH will continue its work in the monitoring of public administration reform.

TI BiH organized the round table within the project Monitoring of Public Administration Reform – PARM, which is being implemented in cooperation with the Center for Investigative Reporting, supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Government of Denmark.

Press rls 06 11 2015