Government Strategy in public sector Reform of the Public

							Government Strategy in the Public Sector/Reform of the Public Administration


In its policy statement, the Slovak government declared that its principal effort in the upcoming period
would be to realize an efficient, streamlined and cost-effective state, to thin down the state
administration, reduce bureaucracy, modernize public administration, and conclude the reform of state
administration. The public administration decentralization and modernization concept, as a starting
point for other initiatives, recommends the cancellation of integrated bodies of local state
administration, and following the decentralization of competencies to the level of territorial self-
government to ensure the execution of exclusive state function by the bodies of specialized state
administration to be subordinated to the respective central state administration body.

This decision was based, among other things at the regional level, on certain lingering issues in the
social area:

        Existence of significant regional differences between Bratislava and other self-governing
         regions with regard to a range of indicators reflecting the standard and quality of living of
         inhabitants
        Self-governing regions where extensive restructuring of industry has taken place, as well as
         areas with a stronger focus on agriculture - both suffer from high unemployment; the
         necessary changes cannot be realized with sufficient speed and efficiency here
        Border districts located mainly on the Southeast and Northeast borders of Slovakia are lagging
         behind in terms of the level of economy
        Existing differences in the quality of human resources not only between Bratislava and other
         regional towns, but also among groups of urban centers and between the urban and rural areas

The regional standard is a sensitive indicator not only of macro-social changes, comprising mainly
macroeconomic changes, but also to a greater extent the ability of the respective structures – social,
economic, infrastructural, etc. – to respond actively and accommodate new conditions.

In 2003, the Project for the Decentralization of Public Administration was passed for the 2003 – 2006
period. It aims to strengthen the state as a whole, as well as reinforcing the central government’s
position and simultaneously positioning regional and local territorial self-government. In particular,
the Project addresses the following issues:

        decentralization of competencies
        reforms of local state administration
        territorial self-government and administrative proceedings
        administrative jurisdiction

At present, public administration in Slovakia is based on the so-called separated model (state
administration, territorial self-government) on three levels:

- local level (town, municipality)
- territorial unit (self-governing region)
- state (Slovak Republic as a whole)

In accordance with Eurostat NUTS II, the Slovak Republic is currently divided into the following
regions: Bratislava, Western, Central, and Eastern Slovakia. It consists of eight self-governing regions,
79 districts, and 2,930 municipalities.

In relation to the transfer of competencies from the center to regional and local territorial self-
governments, primarily in the area of civil infrastructure (social, health, cultural, educational), the
local territorial self-governments often face a lack of qualified staff, non-transparent procedures and
organizational structures, lack of funds or inadequate distribution of finances among the center,
regions and local self-government.

These and many other factors were also considered during the design of the National Development
Program for the Slovak Republic that forms the basis for the drawing of EU funds from 2004 to 2006,
so as to enable the resolving of the most acute problems that the public sector encounters with the use
of structural funds. Each operational program (Basic Infrastructure, Industry and Services, Human
Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development) Single Programming Documents for Objective 2 and
Objective 3 provide opportunities for the submission of projects by public sector entities and territorial
self-government. This does not imply that the EU funds should substitute for the state’s role in public
finances. However, such funds can form a part of public finances, or help to promote the development
of areas/activities for which the government has no resources remaining in a certain period.

The implementation of efficient and flexible structures is a precondition to the changes scheduled by
the government. These structures can be established for example by management of procedures,
establishment of efficient organizational structures of individual government, regional or local
authorities, ensuring transparent financial flows, targeted management of human resources, and the
implementation of optimizing structures.

Kvetoslava Papanová
Manager, Public Sector/Consulting
Deloitte Advisory, spol. s r.o.