The term “citizen-centric” government often seems like a joke to us. On the other hand, this is a question, because the reason for the existence of public administration is precisely this: to manage the state to serve the citizen. Without “yes but”, without the need for “acquaintances”, without inconvenience. Despite some changes, mainly with the use of digital tools, the backstage of public administration, the procedures on the basis of which each task is carried out remain numerous and in many ways unclear and obscure. At the same time, when artificial intelligence enters our lives, we may have to wait months for the ministry office to print the right paper, which required two or three signatures from the competent authorities. As part of the K Dialogue ahead of the May 21 elections, four experts in the field talk about the day ahead. What governance challenges will the next government face? What changes need to be made and, most importantly, how will they be achieved?

Staff redeployment

Vasilis Kefis

The core responsibility of citizen-centred policy, as public administration should be, is to implement measures and practices that promote the skills and attitudes of employees that the public sector needs to achieve its strategic goals:

– Further development of gov.gr with parallel simplification and optimization of procedures.

– Application of the principles of succession and succession. Keeping leaders in strategic positions of responsibility, regardless of political changes, so they can complete their jobs. This, of course, requires their objective and applied scientific evaluation.

– Redistribution of employees based on existing and identified needs. There are front-line services understaffed, while others are inflated.

– Introduction of modern control systems. Caution! Without copying the successful practices of private companies or organizations abroad – a sure way to failure – but with their deep study and adaptation to the needs of the Greek public sector.

– Further application of assessment with rigorously scientific and human-centered criteria, with the main objectives of identifying training needs, planning human resource development programs, informing employees of their strengths and weaknesses, and organizational changes needed throughout the organization.

– Easing down groups pushing things down with constant awareness and information about the need to rationally manage the changes that come at the speed of light, especially in matters related to innovation, technology, etc.

Either way, management is required to make a commitment to crack eggs, break through and implement what they believe in. Not everyone can be happy.

Mr. Vassilis Kefis is a professor at the Department of Public Administration at the Pantheon University of Social and Political Sciences.

Fixed hierarchy, advancement in exams

Theodoros N. Chekos

Administrative reform should be developed comprehensively at three systemically linked levels:

(a) Functions, procedures and structures.

b) the human factor and the parameters that determine its effectiveness.

c) strategic functions such as public policy planning, decision making, planning, monitoring and evaluation.

Oriented interventions:

– Reengineering of operations and processes. Full digitization and full administrative interoperability with common databases throughout the administration.

– Redesign of structures with job descriptions in terms of responsibility for achieving results and a quantitative assessment of the necessary organizational positions by departments and specialties.

Separate reforms that do not complement each other are assimilated by the existing situation and neutralized.

– Reorganization of the management system and points of interface between the administrative and political subsystems by redistributing responsibility between management levels.

– Restriction of legal entities and the restoration of their activities as part of the governing body, with the provision of special flexibilities where required.

– Limitation of transferable general and special secretaries and the addition of corresponding official positions of responsibility, as well as a sharp limitation of transferable positions of responsibility in organizations.

– Fixed service hierarchy and promotion during exam process.

– Immediate implementation of the management system through goals and ensuring administrative measurability with quantitative targeting in all ministries and evaluation based on it.

– Evidence-based policy development with a legal obligation of an urgent ministry to justify every legislative proposal with quantitative and qualitative data.

Combined intervention is the only strategy that has a chance of success. Separate reforms that do not complement each other are assimilated by the existing situation and neutralized.

Mr. Theodoros N. Tsekos is Professor of Public Administration at the University of Peloponnese, Director of the EKKE Institute for Political Studies.

Depoliticization in action

Panagiotis Maistro

The next major public administration reform, including local self-government, needs a modern “reform technology”:

– “Depoliticization” of public administration, to which our country committed itself by the third memorandum (law 4336/2015), 222 deputies voted. There have been legislative initiatives (Law 4369/2016 and Law 4622/2019), but a bolder legal framework is needed and, above all, its robust implementation.

– “Proximity to the delivery of services to citizens”, which involves supporting municipalities and regions through subsidiarity and strengthening their human and financial resources.

– Promoting digital multi-level governance, ensuring the interaction of ministries – decentralized administrations – regions – municipalities and with an integrated information system for public policy sectors, which will also function as a public policy MIS. Certain steps have been taken in Natura area management, water supply – drainage and diversion, but they need to be completed.

A bolder legal framework is needed and, above all, its reliable implementation in order to fulfill the obligations assumed by the country under the third memorandum.

– Improvement of personnel policy and formation of the top management apparatus. Expansion of the overall personnel role of public administration, and not just the office of the prime minister, by strengthening the staffing of ministries, subordinate organizations, regions and municipalities and ensuring their effective networking, systematic support and significant coordination.

– Strengthening the functions of transparency, accountability and communication with citizens and simplification – standardization – digitization of public administration procedures, similar to the ΙPES – ENPE – KEDE – EETAA proposal for OTA, which should be immediately adopted by the Myth registry.

– Adoption of the law proposed by Emma Roidis: Every bill of “major economic or social importance” must be accompanied by an operational implementation plan.

Mr. Panagiotis Maistros is the former Secretary General of Public Administration of the Ministry of the Interior.

Protocols everywhere

Athanasios Raptis

– Procedures and protocols are everywhere in the public sector. All work behind the counter, working with the citizen, and behind the counter must be based on written, institutionalized, visible to all procedures. As humans, we are not used to procedures and protocols, our culture is more person oriented and less path, system. That’s why when things go really bad we focus on replacing people, but it’s been known that the best leader almost always fails because of a bad system.

– Citizen-centric planning of citizen services as well as public sector procedures. Ideally, a citizen should formulate their request once in a physical or digital visit and receive the response or product they requested from the public service as quickly as possible.

– Large digital projects: digitalization of the state and, in particular, the implementation of large IT projects.

– Accelerating justice, initially through the digitization of tools, resources and processes. Greek justice in terms of speed of execution lags far behind the corresponding European systems. Due to things and the nature of the object, it is not easy to simplify and speed up, but in the first stage, with persistent efforts to implement digital solutions, several improvements can occur.

– Training and retraining of public sector personnel, as well as citizens as users of digital public administration services.

– Extending the assessment to the state to assess the processes of systems and institutions. However, the main principle should be evaluation for improvement. As evaluation theorists say, “evaluation should not prove, but improve.”

– Open and shared governance for citizens. Public accountability processes, consultation and transparency processes need to be strengthened, and open and interconnected data policies need to be strengthened.

Mr. Athanasios Raptis is the director of the National School of Public Administration.