New strategic framework for public administration reform presented

The Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government announced that a meeting of the Public Administration Reform Special Group was held, bringing together the line ministry and other public administration reform stakeholders of the Republic of Serbia with representatives of the European Commission.

The Serbian administration presented a new strategic framework for public administration reform, as well as progress in the area of public financial management.

The meeting also addressed issues related to public policy development and coordination, managerial accountability, human resource management and service delivery.

The European Commission stressed the need to accelerate the pace of reforms in order to align them with Serbia's ambitions on its path to European integration.

Particular attention was drawn to remaining challenges, such as reducing the excessive number of acting appointments, strengthening the mechanism for systematically taking into account the opinions of the Public Policy Secretariat, and establishing a unified, comprehensive and transparent system for planning and managing capital investments.

The European Commission also underlined the need to maintain the existing regulatory framework for public consultations and strengthen its implementation in practice.

The meeting was chaired by State Secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Predrag Rajić, while the European Commission was represented by Deputy Head of Unit at the Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood Julien Crampes.

Representatives of domestic institutions involved in the public administration reform process, the European Commission and the EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, EU member states, as well as representatives of the OECD SIGMA project, also took part in the meeting, the statement said.