The state coordinator for public administration reform, Darko Kasap, opened today’s workshop of supervisory teams where proposals for the revision of the current Action Plan for the implementation of the PAR Strategic Framework in BiH 2018 – 2027 are considered.
He reminded that this is the second meeting of the supervisory teams in full composition, that the first was held in December 2023, when, in cooperation with SIGMA, the process of prioritization and revision of the Action Plan was presented.
Kasap noted that, according to the timeframe at the time, the process was supposed to be completed by the fifth month of 2024.
“Practically, we are still at the beginning, we are still discussing priorities”, added the state coordinator.
He emphasized that in the meantime, decisions on the appointment of supervisory teams have been adopted at all levels, that this was done by the Government of Republika Srpska in December, and by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina in March of this year, and that the supervisory teams now have formally confirmed tasks in accordance with the Common Platform and decisions, that is, decisions on appointment.
“After the first workshop, which was held in December 2023, the members of the supervisory teams were provided with prioritization forms and the task was to evaluate, based on the criteria agreed with SIGMA, the priorities of the activities from the Action Plan for Public Administration Reform, as well as the requirements of the European Commission and SIGMA. Those criteria are mostly related to the recommendations derived from the joining process – from the PAR special group, SIGMA review of the state of public administration in BiH, but links with national documents, international measurements and citizens’ requests were also observed”, Kasap assessed.
“Although we are aware that reform is an additional job for many, taking into account the importance of public administration reform as one of the basic requirements of the process of accession to the Union, we request that additional efforts to be made and that each key institution, i.e. its representative in the supervisory team, make a full contribution in the preparation of the revised plan in the next steps”, underlined Kasap.
He reminded that the European Commission announced the start of screening at the PAR special group and that one of the key tasks for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of public administration reform is to have a credible Strategic framework, which implies not only a strategy, but also an accompanying Action document.
He underlined that the credibility of the Action plan has been challenged due to low implementation and deadlines.
“The recommendation of the PAR special group – the revision of the Action plan during 2023 was not followed, as well as the fact that it is necessary to invest additional efforts in order to implement the recommendation from this year’s meeting, and to have a revised Action plan by the end of the summer,” Kasap said.
He noted that the Coordinating Committee for Public Administration Reform, is a political body consisted of the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH, the Prime Ministers of the entities and the Mayor of the Brčko District of BiH who concluded that the PAR structure was obliged to prepare a revised Action plan by the end of the second quarter of this year.
In addition to the state coordinator for public administration reform, Darko Kasap, the workshops were attended by the deputy state coordinator for public administration reform, Miloš Golijanin and Amira Mašović, Željko Škarica, the coordinator for the Public Administration Reform from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Aleksandar Šuvak, the coordinator for the Public Administration Reform from the RS, and his deputy Mikan Davidović, and Davor Šolaja, coordinator for the Regional Administrative Court from the Brčko District of BiH.