Uncategorized Archives

WeBER NRG meeting in Belgrade

By WeBER|2023-07-14T09:54:55+02:0019/06/ 2023|Uncategorized|

June 19, 2023 – Today, the results of the National PAR Monitor 2021/2022 were presented at the WeBER National Working Group for Monitoring Public Administration Reform session.

The session was held with the support of the SMART Balkans regional project and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.

Researchers at CEP, the authors of the report, presented results in the area of the strategic framework for public administration reform, policy development and coordination, as well as the civil service system, human resource management policy, accountability, service delivery and public finance management.

The results show that there are numerous delays in the annual reports on the work of the Government, as well as imperfections in reporting and insufficient adaptation of the reports to citizens. The reporting is not regular and comprehensive, and there is a continuous violation of the law during the appointment of acting officials, while the selection criteria and contract duration limits are not clear enough. When it comes to the area of service provision, civil society does not have a good opinion about the accessibility of services for vulnerable groups and the training of public officials.

The meeting was attended by the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government representatives and the Department for International Cooperation and European Integration in the Ministry of Finance, the Department for International Cooperation, European Integration and Project Management from the Republic Secretariat for Public Policy.

WeBER 3.0 project officially launched at online kick off meeting

By WeBER|2023-04-19T09:27:36+02:0016/03/ 2023|News, Uncategorized|

15 March 2023 – Today, a kick-off meeting of WeBER 3.0 – Western Balkan Enablers for Reforming Public Administrations project was held, marking the beginning of three and a half-long initiative that the TEN will implement (European Policy Centre – CEP Belgrade, European Policy Institute – EPI Skopje, Institute for Democracy and Mediation – IDM Tirana, Insititute Alternative – IA Podgorica, Group for Legal and Political Studies – GLPS Pristina, Foreign Policy Initiative – FPI Sarajevo) coordinated by the European Policy Centre – CEP Belgrade, and in partnership with the EU-level partner, Centre for Public Administration Research – KDZ from Vienna.

Milena Lazarevic, Team Leader of the WeBER 3.0 initiative, opened the kick-off meeting by greeting participants and reflecting back on the experience gathered during previous projects. Jovana Knezevic, Project Manager, then presented project roles and responsibilities & project timeline to the partners, as well as the process of monitoring project implementation and reporting. Lead Researcher, Milos Djindjic, presented research and analytical activities, and Anesa Omeragic, Communication Coordinator, talked about the visibility and communication activities of the project. Participants discussed key priorities for the project and how it will strengthen the role of civil society in monitoring and evaluating public services, promoting citizen participation in decision-making, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government institutions.

The implementation of the third phase of the WeBER initiative is, as has been the case with the previous two (WeBER 2015 – 2018 & WeBER 2.0 2019 – 2023), principally financed by the European Commission.

Transparency across public administration reform in Serbia: An underachieved priority

By Anesa Omeragic|2023-02-27T17:01:23+01:0027/02/ 2023|Uncategorized|

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), transparency refers to an environment in which the objectives of policy, its legal, institutional, and economic framework, as well as policy decisions and all related data and information, are provided to the public in a comprehensible, accessible, and timely manner.

In a democratic society, transparency is a fundamental element of good governance which makes public administration more accountable for its work. Additionally, it helps citizens become more aware of their rights and obligations, as well as in better understanding public policy decisions, and it is a precondition for an inclusive decision-making process that involves civil
society and all external stakeholders.

Furthermore, transparency is a major cross-cutting issue in all areas of Public Administration Reform (PAR) in line with the Principles of Public Administration which represent codified EU membership conditions in this fundamental reform area. Yet, while transparency is recognised in Serbia’s PAR Strategy as an essential component of its public administration reform, eighteen years after the first Public Administration Reform Strategy was adopted in Serbia, numerous important aspects of the administration’s work remain insufficiently transparent. This creates an overall negative impact on the country’s EU accession process, by undermining fundamental reforms in the essential governance areas. Ultimately, it also leads to a decrease in the citizens’ quality of life.

Citizens still steadily in favour of government service provision practices: Third public perception survey in the Western Balkans

By Anesa Omeragic|2023-01-17T15:42:38+01:0017/01/ 2023|Uncategorized|

Public administration services are meant to be used by citizens and businesses and, as such, should be simplified as much as possible and organised in a user-friendly way. As EU membership aspirants, Western Balkan countries undergo different reform processes, and public administration reform (PAR) is one of the most challenging.

Keeping these objectives in mind, the countries of the region have carried out different initiatives and put efforts into changing the ways of providing administrative services to their citizens. What do citizens have to say about the provision of these services?

This report presents the results of the latest WeBER public perception survey, implemented in the entire Western Balkan region in May 2022. Additionally, the report draws main comparisons with the same survey implemented in 2020, shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, and informs about the main changes in public perceptions regarding administrative service provision in the last two years.

Download here

National PAR Monitor Bosnia and Herzegovina 2019/2020

By Anesa Omeragic|2021-09-09T16:27:20+02:0016/08/ 2021|Uncategorized|

The National PAR Monitor Bosnia and Herzegovina is available for download:

English
Albanian

By Anesa Omeragic|2021-03-03T12:43:57+01:0003/03/ 2021|Uncategorized|

Pharmaceutical Company	The Date of First Vaccines in the EU	The Date of First Vaccines in the UK	Date Difference
Pfizer/BioNTech	26 December 2020	08 December 2020	18 days
AstraZeneca	7 February 2021	4 January 2021	34 days
			Average difference: 24.5 days