Competitive selection in the civil service of Lithuania Lina Daujotaitė-Prūsaitienė Civil Service Department under the Ministry of Interior Lithuania Head of the Division of Civil Service Terms and Conditions Civil Service Seminar in Chisinau, Moldova, March 28-29, 2008 CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

ABOUT LITHUANIA Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuva) – is a country in eastern, often considered also northern Europe. Lithuania is a member of NATO and of the European Union. Capital – Vilnius (the largest city). Area – 65,300 km². Population – 3,4 million (2008). Official language – the Lithuanian language (one of the two surviving members of the Baltic language group). Ethnic composition: Lithuanians – 84,6 % Poles – 6,3% Russians – 5,1% Belarussians – 1,1 % Three-tier administrative division : 10 counties and 60 municipalities which consist of over 500 elderates. GDP – 8300 euros (2007). CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Political system CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008 Independence restored – March 11, 1990 The constitution adopted – October 25, EU accession – 1 May, Government type – Parliamentary republic President – chief of state and of executive branch Seimas (parliament) – legislative branch Government – cabinet: Council of Ministers, Prime Minister - executive branch Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; Court of Appeal, Supreme; the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania; regional administrative courts; courts – judicial branch

LITHUANIA CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Human resources in Lithuania Labour force (thousands)1623,7 Public sector385,3 Private sector1174,9 Unemployed63,5 CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Public administration institutions (state and municipal institutions and agencies) – 949 Civil servants – 26,776 Recruited to civil servant position – 4,834 Some figures concerning civil service (2007) CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

About Civil service Civil service means a sum total of legal relations arising after the acquisition of the status of a civil servant, the change or loss thereof, as well as those resulting from the public administrative activities of a civil servant in a state or municipal institution or agency. Civil servant means a natural person, who performs duties in the civil service and carries out the public administrative activities as specified in the Law on Civil Service. Civil servants are understood in narrow sence – only those who implement the functions of public administration are considered as a civil servants. Civil service of Lithuania is attributed to career system in the studies of EUPAN HRWG*, but it can be stated that it has the features of career systems as well as post system (mixed system). * European public administration network Human resources working group CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Human Resources of State and Municipal institutions and agencies CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008 Politicians Heads of institutions Civil servants of political (personal) confidence Civil servants of political (personal) confidence Career civil servants Employees working under labour contracts Employees working under labour contracts Labour Code of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Civil Service Statutory civil servants Statues Partly Law on Civil Service

Number of Civil Servants CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Statistical civil servant (average) CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008 Age: 42,6 years of old The length of service: 8 years Education: 65% have higher university education Knowledge of foreign languages: out of 100 civil servants, are fluent at speaking 67 – Russian 38 – English 20 – German

Civil Service Department CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008 Civil service department under the Ministry of the Interior (CSD) is the Agency of the Civil Service Management, which: controls the implementation of the Law on Civil Service and related legal acts; manages the register of civil servants; draft legal acts related to the civil service; approve training programmes for civil servants; co-ordinate the implementation of the strategy for the training of public servants; investigate disputes related to the status of civil servants; prepare information about the civil service and submit it to state and municipal institutions and agencies; etc.

Development of legal regulation of civil service  Up to the year 1991 – The Labour Code.  1991 – 1995 The Law on Employment Contract.  1995 – 1999 The Law on Officials.  1999 – 2002 The Law on Civil Service (first wording).  From July 1, 2002 – The Law on Civil Service (second wording). CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Regulation of Recruitment to the position of civil servant The Law on Civil Service; Procedure for the organizing competition to a civil servant’s position, approved by The Government. Other laws. CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Requirements for Recruitment to Positions of Civil Servants A person shall meet the following requirements: general requirements set forth in The Law on Civil Service: - to hold the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania; - to have proficiency in the Lithuanian language; - to be not less than 18 years of age and not more than 65 of age - except civil servants of political (personal) confidence and acting civil servants; - to have education necessary to hold the position of a civil servant of an appropriate level; special requirements set forth in a particular job description. CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Ways of recruiting to the position of a civil servant Recruitment to the position of a civil servant is made: by competition; without a competition. It depends on what group of civil servants’ positions a person is recruited for: career civil servant’s, head’s of institution or civil servant’s of political (personal) confidence position. CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Recruitment to the position of civil servant is made (1): Acting civil servants Former career civil servants, heads of institutions whose positions were cancelled Persons who re- establish the status of a civil servant Civil servants of political (personal) confidence WITHOUT A COMPETITION CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Recruitment to the position of civil servant is made (2): BY COMPETITION To the position of career civil servant To the position of head of institution CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Stages of competition The procedure for the admission to the position on competition basis includes: announcement of the competition; acceptance of documents to be submitted in order to take part in the competition; formation of a competition commission; competition; adoption of a decision on the admission by a person or a collective state or municipal institution admitting to a position of civil servant CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Head of institution makes a decision to apply to Civil Service Department (CSD) for announcement of competition The decision of a recruiting person on recruitment to position of civil servant Competition A notice of the date of the competition is sent to the applicants complying with the said requirements The personnel department of that institution having received the documents, checks whether the applicants meet the requirements Within 14 days following this announcement, applicants submit the necessary documents to the institution organising the competition If there are no persons who can be recruited to a civil servant position without competition, CSD announces about this Competition in The Supplement to the Official Gazette and web page of CSD. The scheme of recruitment by competition CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

COMPETITION COMMISSION OF COMPETITION I PART WRITTEN EXAMINATION The part of tests are submitted centralized. The other part – prepared by the institution organising the competition The answers of the tests are evaluated by giving marks from 1 to 10 The marks of written and oral examination are summed up It is acknowledged that applicant passed examination if he or she gets more than 12 points The applicant who gets the most amount of marks wins the competition II PART ORAL EXAMINATION Base – job description Each member of the commission gives marks from 1 to 10 individually CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Formation of the competition commission A commission for the holding of the competition for a civil servant’s position must be formed. It is constituted from 5 to 7 members not later than 3 working days prior to the date of the competition. The list of the commission members must include: - the head of the personnel department of the recruiting authority or other civil servant of that department; - the immediate superior of the civil servant to be recruited; - a representative of the trade union if such an organisation exists within the institution. CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Written examination A written examination consists of a test: part I (questions related to the laws and other legal acts specified in Procedure for the organizing competition) is submitted centralized in the computer program of the Civil Servants Register and on the website of the Ministry of Interior as a separate notice; part II is decentralized: the institution organising the competition prepares the test questions on legal acts related to the functions of the position being the object of the competition; The test questions distributed to the applicants are identical. Only those applicants who have received 6 or more points for the written examination shall be entitled to take the oral examination. CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Oral examination During the oral examination each member of the Commission: - gives identical questions to all the applicants in order to check the applicant’s capabilities to perform functions of a civil servant and command of foreign languages set out in the relevant job description; - evaluates knowledge of the applicants individually using a scale of points from 1 to 10, 1 being the worst point and 10 being the best point. CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

The results of the competition The applicant who receives more than 12 points is regarded as having passed the examination. The competition is recognised as having been held provided that at least one applicant took part in it and received more than 12 points. The applicant who has received the largest number of points wins the competition. A person or a collective state or municipal institution admitting to a position of civil servant adopts a decision on the admission. The decision of the competition commision is obligatory to admitting person. The winner of competition is announced on the web page of the Civil Service Department. Any actions, inactivity and/or decisions that violate the provisions of the Procedure may be appealed against, not later than within 3 working days, to the head of the institution organising the competition as well as to the court. CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

The conclusions The acting procedure of recruitment is unanimous (uniform?). The use of IT allows to manage the system of centralised tests professionally as well as assist Personnel departments with examination in writing. The procedure of recruitment is related to social guarantee - reestablishment the status of a civil servant or recruitment of a former civil servant, dismissed from office as a result of the cancellation of their position CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Future plans Some improvements of the procedure currently in force: increasing the diversity and quality of tests, introducing different levels of them; training of the members of commissions, etc. CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008

Thank You for Your attention! CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR2008