WeBER Policy Briefs

Bosnia and Herzegovina's civil service recruitment system continues to face significant challenges, as highlighted in the European Commission’s 2024 report. Despite some progress, particularly the adoption of a state-level civil service law and the establishment of the Civil Service Agencies Forum in October 2023, substantial issues remain. These include political interference, a lack of coordination across government levels, and the fragmented implementation of merit-based hiring principles. The civil service recruitment process is often influenced by political considerations, which undermine the transparency and meritocracy essential for an effective public administration. Criteria for selection are inconsistently applied, and decision-making processes frequently grant excessive discretion to heads of institutions. As a result, fair competition is compromised, and professional development among public servants is discouraged. Coordination between different administrative levels is another key challenge. The varying civil service laws, recruitment policies, and promotion criteria across the state, entities, and cantons contribute to inefficiencies and limit the mobility of civil servants. While the action plan for public administration reform (2023–2027) aims to address these discrepancies, its success hinges on sufficient budgetary support and political commitment. Download the brief here.

The Public Administration Reform Strategy in the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter PAR Strategy/ Strategy) was adopted in April 2021, covering the period from 2021 to 2030. During the three years of its implementation, a steady course of reform was set, although with varying results in the different reform areas. The Strategy introduced a three-tier coordination and management structure to improve efficiency, distinguishing between administrative and political levels. The first level, focused on expert and operational tasks, falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government (MPALSG). The Inter-Ministerial Project Group (IMPG) represents the second level. It is chaired by the Secretary of the MPALSG, and it includes coordinators of thematic areas of the Strategy. Other members of the IMPG include relevant representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs). The third, political level is the PAR Council, formed by the Government as the central strategic body for PAR. The Council represents the common political level of coordination of PAR and public finance reform. It is chaired by the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, with the deputy being the Minister of Finance. Members are appointed among line ministers and representatives of other state authorities, representatives [...]

-The exercise of public authority granted by law based on democratic governance assumes the existence of certain predispositions which effectively ensure the protection of the public interest. The professionalism of public servants is one of the main requirements to exercise the public authority as best as possible and in the function of protecting the public interest while also guaranteeing the effective protection of the rights and legal interests of people. This means that in order to achieve a good standard of professionalism, it is necessary to ensure that the staff has a proven professionalism. This is achieved through the implementation of rules that ensure meritocracy in order to be trusted with the exercise of public authority through the definition of positions and strict responsibilities in all links of public institutions. Recently, there is a growing trend, not only in Kosovo but also in the region, that the regular positions that remain vacant are filled with acting position and which for a long time are not filled through the procedures of advancement or external recruitment. This approach, certainly simple and suitable for daily politics, but also for the officials close to him, has managed to ignore and seriously violate the [...]

Following the publications of the PAR Monitor Report Albania, 2019/ 2020 and PAR Monitor Albania 2021/2022, the WeBER 2.0    research team and associates prepared two policy briefs, crosscutting PAR with other policy fields. The transition to online public service delivery and the challenge of cybersecurity on the one hand, and the importance of strengthening integrity in the public administration to fight corruption on the other, are discussed in the two cross-cutting policy briefs below. Find the Policy Brief here (in English) and here (in Albanian).

Publicity of the work of the Government is regulated by the Decree on the Government, the Rules of Procedure of the Government and the Decision on the publication of materials from the sessions of the Government. Article 4 of the Government Regulation emphasizes that the work of the Government is public, that the Government has a website where it publishes information about its work, and that, in accordance with the legislation (Law on Free Access to Information and Rules of Procedure of the Government), it is obliged to provide the public with access to its work work. According to the Rules of Procedure of the Government, in addition to the notice on convening the session, the Government’s website provides for the publication of the proposed agenda, which contains an indication of points for discussion and points for verification, materials for individual points on the agenda, committee reports and minutes from the previous session. Article 2 of the Decision on the Publication of Materials from Government Sessions stipulates the publication of: 1) proposal of the agenda of the Government session; 2) material considered by the Government at the session for which the appropriate level of secrecy has not been determined [...]

In the context of the EU’s enlargement policy, the European Commission is the institution which should be in the driver’s seat, leading the development of the policy and proposing changes and improvements of the approach. Its annual reports analyse the state of play and progress across the fundamental reform areas as well as individual negotiating chapters for all candidates and potential candidates. As such, they are the primary source for evaluating these countries’ progress in the EU integration process. Moreover, they should serve as a reliable basis for the decisions by the EU Council to make or withhold advancement of individual aspirants towards membership, including opening of negotiation clusters and closing of individual negotiation chapters. Yet, it is doubtful whether the Commission’s monitoring and assessment mechanisms are effective enough to allow it to act in the expected capacity. In practice, the Council has frequently disregarded or decided not to follow up on the Commission’s recommendations based on these reports. This is largely due to the fact that member states continue to demonstrate a notable level of mistrust when it comes to the Commission’s approach to reform monitoring and assessment. Such an inter-institutional rift in the EU sends inconsistent and [...]