“The main obstacles and obstruction of public administration reform come from the political mentality, which sees public administration as its monopoly. The precondition for good public administration is inclusiveness and transparent work “, said for BHT1 live the coordinator of the Office for Public Administration Reform Dragan Ćuzulan.
As a reminder, public administration reform is among the fourteen priorities set by the European Commission for Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a condition for obtaining candidate status. Ćuzulan believes that all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina must understand that the information they possess is not theirs but the property of citizens and the economy.
That is why the European Commission insists on depoliticization as one of the key public administration reforms, he said. That is why the main problem in this process is the lack of political support.
“We have made some progress in terms of adopting priorities, more in terms of adopting the Strategic Framework for Public Administration Reform and the Action Plan, but we are implementing it. All these activities and measures, ie reform tasks, should be implemented through public administration. It’s a big job that will also require some kind of political support.
“When it comes to the tasks set before us by the European Commission, e-government is a priority. Digitalization, said Ćuzulan, covers as much as three quarters of the reform, at least the Strategic Framework 2018-2022. The second thing is the harmonization of legislation with European legislation, what the European Commission calls inclusive laws, ie enabling the involvement of the public sector and citizens in the adoption of appropriate laws.
“It was the practice that laws were implemented by urgent procedure, that public consultation procedures were not carried out, and citizens were, relatively, excluded from the adoption of certain laws, as well as the economy,” reminded Ćuzulan.
Speaking about how the pandemic affected the work of public administration, he stated that, like all others, this area had to adapt to the new conditions.
“We have reduced the way we work and the number of employees, we have switched to online meetings and conferences and digital communication. In that sense, the reform of public administration should go and enable the citizens to exercise their rights digitally”, states Ćuzulan.