National Registry of High – Level Staff or Transferring international political standards to the Hellenic Public Administration Dr. Spyridon Tsoukalas Special Advisor to the Secretary General of Administrative Reconstruction

WHO WE ARE: EKDDA is the national strategic public law entity, responsible for the training & consulting of the Hellenic Public Administration and Local Government National School of Public Administration & Local Government (ESDDA) Administrative Services Institute of Training (INEP) Documentation & Innovations Unit (MoTEK)

EKDDA’s structure President & 14-member Governing Board 9-member Scientific & Administrative Staff Trainers (Selected our of appr. 4000 members of EKDDA’s Trainers Registry) 9-member Scientific Board

National School of Public Administration & Local Government (ESDDA) Its role Development of PA high flyers Duration & Curriculum 18 months 2 phases 4 months of “real life” practice before graduation Students Tertiary education graduates Entry exams of 2 stages

Recent cross-border activities In Cyprus: Study of the Cypriot Local Government Reform Trained both politicians and PA staff in view of the first Cypriot Presidency of the EU Council Best Practice: Best Practice trainings in co-operation with EU counterparts reinforcement of the Administrative Reform through know-how transfer

Close co-operation with: Our foreign allies Close co-operation with: Europe & Africa ENA (France) PBLQ (The Netherlands) Cypriot Academy of Public Administration HAUS (Finland) ENA (Liban) Asia Institute of Training of the Jiang-xi Region – PR China ADB Group – Ministry of Interior, PR Vietnam PA Academy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Now back to our main business: A whole new environment for the Hellenic PA From 2010, due to economic crisis several reforms have led the Hellenic PA to: lose 1/3 of its human capital age because of a very tight attrition rule which made practically impossible the recruitment enough new civil servants sharply reduce its operating costs These reforms were mainly based on the Terms of Memorandums of Understanding signed by the Hellenic State and its Creditors

Hellenic PA towards proposed reforms In this time period there have been many fiscal measures affecting PA and civil servants that were presented as “reforms” This misunderstanding has sparked the devaluation of the term “reform” and raised suspicions towards everything that could be seen as a reform In fact, certain problems that affect the very legitimacy of PA’s actions were not dealt with

After 5 years of reforms it has become clear that: The actions taken in the first two programmes were focused on fiscal and financial results Actions were so successful that their over performance has created many problems in fields like Health and Education A public administration with increased efficiency of the public sector in the delivery of essential public goods and services should be a key priority of a realistic programme

PA Reforms with a new perspective: A reform programme, in close collaboration with the European Commission, for: capacity-building and, de-politicizing the Greek administration making the best use of all available technical assistance

PA Reforms with a new perspective: A reform programme, in close collaboration with the European Commission, for: capacity-building and, de-politicizing the Greek administration making the best use of all available technical assistance

De-politicization of Hellenic PA Public Administration implements government policy so it is by definition a political issue. Of course this should not be confused with the possible political parties involvement in public administration functions. It is clear that Hellenic State and the Institutions co-signing the new memorandum have acknowledged it as one of the main pathogeneses of the Public Administration.

An emblematic new approach in top – management staffing A National Registry of High – Level Staff and a legislated procedure for the selection of top managers The National Registry was established with a view to exclusively staff positions: of Administrative and Sectoral Secretaries of the Ministries Chairpersons and members of the BoDs of the Public Services.

Why is it so emblematic? General and Special Secretaries and other top – managers were appointed by the party (-ies) in power without any other legitimacy or evaluation but their loyalty to the party exercising excessive control over the actions and operations of the public administration, thus creating favoritism and clientelism.

Who can be enlisted in the registry Civil servants and civil servants with an indefinite private employment relationship, with any of: PhD, MSc Graduates of the NSPA and Local Government Heads of General Directorates for at least three (3) years or Heads of Directorates for at least ten (10) years University professors of all levels and University lecturers The scientific staff of the Independent Authorities, with at least five years experience Retired army officers who attended special curriculums

New legislative framework Objectivity Transparency Meritocracy

Posts occupied by Members of the Registry Administrative and Deputy Administrative Secretaries Management of Of Legal Entities of Proprietary Law Sectoral and Special Sectoral Secretaries Management of Legal Entities of Public Law

Evaluation and Selection of Candidates Proposition with the 3 prevailing candidates (up to 1 from the private sector) Obligatory Selection for one of three Submission of proposition to the Minister Taking into account the candidates' personality in general Call for at least 10 candidates At least 6 from the Registry Structured Interview Resume Formally Skills Scientific work and research Positioning layout Administrative experience Qualification evaluation

How this (and any other) real reform CAN become possible? Funding Political Willingness Expertise

And how could the transfer of models and policies COULD be undermined? Creating a parallel bureaucracy to support the expertise, spending already valuable and scarce resources Efforts to implement without prior consultation with the stakeholders Without communicating the proposed policies and reforms to the society And of course without taking into account the legal and constitutional framework

Ευχαριστώ благодаря Thank you Spyridon Tsoukalas stsoukal@yahoo.com