Respected excellencies, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the European Commission, it is my honour and pleasure to welcome you to this important Conference on Public Administration Reform.I am equally or perhaps even more happy that after years of talking about the need to have a Public Administration Reform Strategy, the authorities of BiH have been able to prepare a comprehensive PAR Strategy and we are convening today to discuss and commit ourselves to the ambitions set out in this document.
The adoption and ultimately implementation of the PAR Strategy is a clear indication that Bosnia is now prepared to take full responsibility in the modernisation and reform of its Public Administration.As you all know Public Administration Reform is intrinsically linked to BiH’s European aspirations. Not only is PAR – and particularly the adoption and implementation of a comprehensive PAR Strategy – one of the 5 key European Partnership priorities, the further improvement of the functioning of the public administration at the heart of the European Partnership with Bosnia.
But I would dare to go one step further. Without taking the necessary steps – as described in the PAR Strategy – to harmonise and strengthen the various levels of public administration of Bosnia and ensure better accountability, effectiveness and efficiency of the administration as a whole it will be next to impossible for the country to make serious progress on its way to Europe.
As you all probably know, there is no specific acquis on public administration, apart from two chapters on public financial management. But having sufficient administrative capacity to harmonise laws along the lines of the acquis and to effectively enforce its application throughout the country will be essential and will not be possible without a strong, effective, efficient and capable administration.
The process of harmonisation of these 100.00 pages of laws and more so implementing these uniformally throughout the country is a process that should not be underestimated and will require a lot from your country’s administration.The need for PAR can perhaps best be underlined by looking at the past experience of the New Member States that have been able to successfully finalise the process of harmonisation. In all these countries, major Public Administration Reform efforts have been made during their transition process.
In the end, all of the new Member States have been able to meet the minimum requirements that have been developed by the European Administrative Space – a network of public administrations in the 25 EU Member States: a) a distinct separation between politics and administration, b) professional impartial civil service with clear accountability lines and clearly defined administrative procedures, c) solid management control over public funds, and d) overall strength of administrative and judiciary systems in applying and enforcing the above legal arrangements
We are happy to note that the long term objective of the PAR Strategy is to fulfil all requirements for becoming a full member of the European Administrative Space. We believe that now – with the SAA negotiations on-going and the EC in September of this year having to prepare the progress report and make up its mind to which extent progress in key reform areas identified in the European Partnership have been sufficient- is the right time to adopt and implement the PAR Strategy.
Let me conclude by wishing you good discussions today and we hope that we will be able to see the first fruits of the work on the PAR Strategy very soon.
Reinhard Priebe, Director of the EU General Directorate for Enlargement