State Coordinator for Public Administration Reform (PAR) Darko Kasap said in an interview for Fena that transparency and accountability are an important part of the functioning of public administration and that transparency is the foundation on which trust is built between the public and the authorities.
Kasap said that in recent years there has been an increasing demand for transparency in government agencies, because citizens no longer want to be only informed, but to demand that institutions enable them to participate in decision-making processes.
– The new Law on Freedom of Access to Information at the state level foresees the obligation of public institutions to publish sets of information of public importance, proactively, on their websites. These data are mostly included in the standards of proactive transparency – a document that was adopted by the BiH Council of Ministers in December 2018 and tasked the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office with conducting research on the fulfillment of standards and reporting to the BiH Council of Ministers – he said.
Kasap claims that institutions have an obligation to publish data in machine-readable formats, so that the public can analyze them, understand decision-making processes and use them to create some new values.
He emphasized that last year’s research showed a slight increase in the availability of public administration information on the websites of Bosnia and Herzegovina institution.
– We will soon start a new research, and we plan to process and publish the results by July/August of this year. Precisely because of the adoption of the new law, we expect that the institutions will be more open to the public. Because its full implementation is a key step towards building trust and ensuring the responsibility of the public authorities – he pointed out.
Kasap reminded that the 7th meeting of the Special PAR Group between BiH and the EU was held on April 16 in Sarajevo.
– When it comes to public administration reform, the recommendations from the 6th meeting of this body, among other things, related to the establishment of a functional body for making political decisions that will include the chairperson of the BiH Council of Ministers, the presidents of entity governments and the mayor of Brčko District, while the state level, the entities and the Brčko District should adopt a decision on the arrangement for the coordination of public administration reform, the so-called a Common platform – he said.
By signing the Common Platform on the implementation of public administration reform last year and holding the first session in February of this year, the Coordination Committee, as Kasap says, became functional and thereby eliminated the lack of political direction of the reform, which was also recognized in European Commission documents.
He explained that the Coordination Committee performs the function of harmonizing the activities of administrative bodies of different levels of government in the implementation of reform measures, the function of political coordination and overall supervision.
– The support of the members of this body is significant in terms of understanding the importance of certain issues and putting them on the agenda of the sessions of the Council of Ministers of BiH and governments – he said.
Kasap claims that the Coordination Committee at its session in February recommended that reform activities can be included in the work programs of the institutions, and thus also of the Council of Ministers of BiH/Government, which is also one of the functions of this body prescribed by the Platform.
– Also, based on information about delays and obstacles in the implementation of the public administration reform, as well as conclusions from the meetings of the PAR Special Group, the Coordination Committee concluded on the need for prioritization and revision of the Action Plan, and it is expected that the members of the Coordination Committee will strongly advocate for an accelerated adoption of the document when it is completed – he pointed out.
He added that the Government of the Republika Srpska in December last year, and the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina in March of this year, appointed representatives of institutions to the supervisory teams, which created the key prerequisites for the operation of a functional technical structure and which signaled the governments readiness for further investment in the reform.
– In the coming period, it will be necessary to continue further discussions with donors in order to secure funds for the implementation of the Action Plan for the reform of public administration – he said.
Speaking about the activities praised by the European Commission, Kasap said that the praises relate to the establishment of political coordination in the reform of public administration, the drafting of the EU Integration Program, and the adoption of amendments to the Law on Civil Service at the state level, as well as the Law on Freedom access to information at the level of BiH institutions.
But he added that the Commission expressed dissatisfaction with the speed of fulfilling their recommendations from last year’s meeting and that he expects the old as well as the new recommendations to be implemented more quickly.
He pointed out that the Commission expects to complete the revision of the Action Plan by the end of July this year and determine new priorities in the field of public administration reform, and that the deadline for fulfilling the measures from the action plan remains the same, the end of 2027.
– By June 2023, the state level of government was supposed to establish a working group for the harmonization of laws on civil service throughout the country, and therefore the systematization of jobs, job categories, and then salary standards. In 2021, the BiH Ministry of Justice initiated the establishment of a joint working group that was supposed to work on the harmonization of civil service laws at all levels, but only the BiH Civil Service Agency and the FBiH Civil Service Agency responded to this initiative. However, the work plan of the National Assembly of the RS defines the review of the new law on civil service in the Republic of Srpska in the fourth quarter of this year, while in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina it is planned to hold a meeting/round table on the harmonization of the law on civil service in May – he explained.
Kasap pointed out that the European Commission invited Bosnia and Herzegovina to improve the draft of the EU Integration Program, to revise and adopt the Action Plan for Public Administration Reform with the costs of its implementation, and to improve the functioning of coordination structures.
He emphasized that Bosnia and Herzegovina should amend the civil service laws so that they are harmonized with the principle of merit and with each other in order to achieve a professional and depoliticized civil service, and to adopt state-level regulations on nationwide strategic policy planning and the designation of one institution at the state level that is responsible for planning policy. Also, the monitoring of the implementation of the nationwide Public Finance Management Strategy must be improved.
When asked what the focus of the new, revised action plan for public administration reform is and when they intend to finalize the document, Kasap said that they do not yet have a final proposal for activities.
– We will discuss this in May with all coordinators for public administration reform and members of supervisory teams. The biggest challenge for the next period is the digitization of public administration. Most of the activities are still current, especially the construction of building blocks that will enable the provision of electronic services, which includes the establishment of a catalog of services through which electronic services will be provided in the future, the establishment and strengthening of centers of shared services, e-payments, government buses, etc., so all elements that are necessary for the future provision of e-services – he emphasized.
He considers it necessary to ensure interoperability, to which previously and now developed systems will have to be adapted, and to enable institutions to communicate with each other, instead of sending people to travel around the country and collect documents in front of the counters that they are obliged to provide themselves according to the laws on administrative procedure.
– The legislative framework is missing in the field of services. The draft law on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions has not been adopted, the law on cyber security is missing, and the use of a secure electronic signature is not enabled – he underlined.
Speaking about the amount of money allocated by the government for public administration reform and whether it is enough to implement all planned activities, Kasap said that in the previous period the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina allocated money to the PARF on the basis of three-year, i.e. annual, decisions proposed by PARCO.
– Funds from other levels were also allocated to the PARF in a similar way. At the moment, the PARF is blocked and we expect that PARCO, in cooperation with the PAR coordinators, will submit for approval the documents on the unblocking of the PARF and propose a further method of allocation – he said.
He claims that there is a willingness to ensure allocations, but that it is necessary to define the methods and scope, because at this moment it is difficult to talk about percentages if it is known that domestic investments in the PARF amounted to seven percent compared to the invested money of donors.
– We certainly think that this amount should not be less than 10 percent – he pointed out.
He emphasized that there are more than 10 million BAM in the PARF, but that they cannot use that money unless appropriate decisions are made to unblock the Fund.
– You know that the goal of public administration reform in BiH is harmonized reforms, prevention of fragmentation and ensuring equal progress at all levels – he said.
Kasap concluded that the most effective way for this is the implementation of simultaneous reforms at all levels, which were ensured in the previous period through projects, whether they were financed from the PARF or other sources.