Dear Minister Borovac, Mr Tadic, Mr Gorecki, Mr Cuzulan, representatives of the media, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

I am very impressed by the high number of attendees that shows interest for the topic and mirrors the importance that this issue will take on the EU’s agenda over the coming years. Public administration reform has been recognised as a key challenge for all enlargement countries – and Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular. Much remains to be done to, on one hand, provide the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina with an effective, cost efficient, transparent and accountable public service, and on the other, to ensure that the country is equipped  to address the challenges of the EU accession process.

Public administration reform has been an important aspect of the enlargement process for already more than 20 years, ever since the 1993 Copenhagen and the 1995 Madrid European Councils, where a set of accession criteria where decided upon. It is especially the Madrid criteria that require a candidate country to have the necessary administrative capacity for implementation of EU legislation.

All Member States that have joined the EU since, did engage in public administration reform. For most, the efforts focused on improving administrative capacity on sectoral basis such as in veterinary services or competition policy in line with the requirements of the negotiation chapters. But the effectiveness of sectoral capacities ultimately depends on cross-cutting issues: capacity for policy planning, budgeting, coordination or ensuring a merit-based career path for civil servants.

Despite the shared understanding of the importance of public administration reform, the reforms were not comprehensive. Many countries set their goal on becoming a Member State rather than on benefiting from being a Member State. The difficulties in absorbing the EU Structural Funds are a clear indication of this.

The economic crisis has forced many Member States to address public administration reform more systematically.

Against this background, public administration reform is now firmly rooted in the Commission’s ‘fundamentals first’ approach together with rule of law and economic governance. These are the fundamental pillars that have to be addressed early in the accession process.

The European Commission proposed already in the 2014-15 Enlargement Strategy how to address public administration reform more systematically:

• Firstly, the work should be structured by focusing on a number of well-defined core areas of public administration reform and SIGMA have facilitated this work by ensuring that each core area is well defined by the Principles of Public Administration. These principles outline the basic requirements that public administration should have in place.
• Second, a more structured policy dialogue on public administration reform according to these core areas is already taking place in most countries of the region through the Special Groups on Public Administration Reform and the same structure should be organised in BiH soon.
• The third aspect is about ensuring a better political attention and follow-up to commitments made on public administration reform. For BiH the follow up is ensured in the Stabilisation and Association Committee and the sub-committee structure. Also, we want to step-up the level of discussions on public administration reform to ensure a continued political attention to it.

Indeed sustained reform efforts in these areas are key to strengthening the economy and democratic governance. The ultimate objective is to address what really matters – creating an environment more conducive to investment, growth and jobs. A public administration is not an end in itself. It has the duty to provide services to citizens and businesses, be it through better administrative procedures or e-government services. In times of economic crisis the public administration has to be especially responsive to business needs and cut red tape wherever possible.

One horizontal point should not be forgotten and this is a certain degree of continuity in the administration to gain and keep expertise in the different fields – a highly competent civil service cannot be built up every four years.

These reasons are sufficient for any government to start this reform. We have been monitoring and supporting PAR in BiH and hoping for some tangible results that would have immediate impact on the country’s progress in the integration process, on the advancement of businesses or on the life of its citizens. With few exceptions, we have not seen much of these yet.

BiH has embarked on this process long time ago and the necessity is obvious. It is now time to outline the path in which the administration should evolve. Ideas are on the table but no one can make the final decision but BiH authorities. I believe that BiH is only one small step away from making this decision and showing the determination that is expected.

In a moment you will hear the results of the 2015 Baseline Measurement Report for BiH based on the Principles of Public Administration Reform and I hope that they will be useful for you because they will be discussed between BiH and the EU under the dialogue on PAR. As mentioned, the Special Group for PAR will be formed soon and their conclusions will be discussed in the context of the SAA Committee under the Stabilisation and Association process. All other countries of the region have such a mechanism already set up and I hope that BiH will soon follow suit because I am sure that fruitful discussions will take place there and that BiH will have a lot to contribute.

The Delegation of the EU stands, as always, ready to support the authorities in this process but we need to see a clear political signal that BiH knows the way which the PAR process needs to take before we commit further assistance. I hope that today’s event is one step in that direction.

Thank you for your attention.

Mr Massimo Mina, the Head of Operations Section for Social Development, Civil Society and Cross-Border Cooperation at the EU Delegation to BiH, spoke at the Conference “Public Administration Reform Challenges in BiH” organised by the OECD/SIGMA and BiH PAR Coordinator’s Office in Sarajevo on 3 February 2016.