Eupan

Photos from the working group meeting in Copenhagen

The Danish team would like to thank the EUPAN members for their participation and contributions at the first working group meeting in Copenhagen on February 27-28.

Please find a few photos from the meeting attached.

We look forward to greet you in Copenhagen again.

The Danish Presidency of EUPAN

From the 1st January to the end of July 2012, Denmark holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This includes responsibility for the activities in the European Public Administration Network.

For more information regarding the Danish Presidency, the Danish EUPAN-team and the planned activities in the EUPAN-netvwork please see the attached documents.

We look forward to greeting you in Copenhagen.

Guidebook on Poland

You have just joined, or you are about to join, the 13 million foreigners who visit Poland every year.

Polish hospitality, polska goscinnosc – you will hear this phrase a lot from Poles. We see ourselves as friendly, welcoming folk. Even if it is difficult to break the ice sometimes, even if at first a person may seem reserved and unapproachable, once you do break the ice, once you join the ranks of friends and friends of friends, there is no way out.

Ask any expat who has decided to settle in Poland. Even if they have been greeted Initially with distrust and scepticism by their workmates or future in-laws, now they are a part of the family, or rodzina.

We will do our best to make you stay longer, and longer, and longer, and make sure you want to come back.

About Polska

Polish Presidency in EUPAN

From the 1^st July to the end of December 2012, Poland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and as a consequence, the leadership of the European Union Public Administration Network. This is a real pleasure for all of us to undertake this challenge.

Having in mind, that the 18 – months Medium Term Priorities (MTP) developed for the period of 1 July 2010 - 30 June 2011 has already come to the end, Poland together with Trio countries – Denmark and Cyprus – in close cooperation with Hungarian Presidency has developed the new Medium Term Priorities (MTP) and Working Program.

During the nearest 18 months, under the theme of: ‘An Open, Adaptable and Performing Public Administration’ three following subthemes will be unfolded: In the wake of the crisis, Top executives and Governing a performing organisation.

During the Polish Presidency we plan a number of initiatives that ensure the continuation of work under previous Presidencies from one hand and contribute to the improvement of work within EUPAN on the other hand.

In cooperation with EIPA institute, we have already started work on the study on effectiveness of good governance and ethics. The results aiming at showing the impact and the effects of concrete reforms on ethical behaviour will be, as I believe, interesting and valuable for all EUPAN members.

We have taken the challenge and decided to host the 6th Quality Conference. During the two-day 6th Quality Conference we will provide our audience with insight into the different aspects of effectiveness and efficiency of public administration. The four main areas will cover:

- From micro-management to meta-management

- Citizen / Customer Effectiveness

- Towards result-oriented leadership in public sector organisations

- Installing a culture of result thinking in public sector organisations

The 6 QC - an essential element of the Polish Presidency in EUPAN - has been scheduled for the end of September in Warsaw.

Finally we also plan to provide fully operational new EUPAN webpage - a new way of communication among EUPAN members as well as between the Network and the public.

Finally, we all believe that the nearest six months under the Polish Presidency will be both interesting and satisfying for all members of EUPAN and the effects of common work will be useful for public administration in Europe.

You will be warmly welcomed to Poland!

OECD launches Government at a Glance 2011

The 2011 edition nearly doubles the amount of data covered in the 2009 publication - providing indicators on nearly 60 policy areas. Country coverage has also increased. The publication includes data on the entire "production chain" of government activities: on revenues, government expenditures, employment and compensation; public management and governance processes such as transparency and integrity, regulatory governance, human resources management, and service delivery. For the first time, output and outcome data are presented for the sectors of education, health and tax administration as well as on compensation for key positions in central government, and show for some positions (teachers, doctors, nurses) how yearly earnings compare to their counterparts in the private sector.

On the Government at a Glance website, you will be able to find a link to the publication itself, as well as individual country notes and multilingual executive summaries: www.oecd.org/gov/indicators/govataglance. The publication offers Statlinks, allowing readers to access the underlying data for each table or figure in Excel format.

Below is a link to the press release and a short video highlighting some key findings:

http://www.oecd.org/document/13/0,3746,en_21571361_44315115_48244813_1_1_1_1,00.html

The Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration and Justice brings a successful EU Presidency to a conclusion

Organised by the Hungarian EU Presidency, the 56th meeting of EUPAN – the European network of directors general responsible for public administration in the European Union – was held in Gödöllö on 23-24 June 2011. It was also attended by representatives of Trade Unions’ National and European administration Delegation (TUNED).

EUPAN focused on assessing the impacts of the economic crisis on public service, and developing responses to this. The Presidency’s work programme was led by Krisztina Farkas, Deputy Minister of State for Public Administration Strategy; the meeting in Gödöllö to evaluate this was also chaired by her, and the final declaration was adopted there unanimously. All participants at the event highlighted the efficiency of the six-month presidency and its successful completion.

Over the past months, the Hungarian Presidency has organised five expert-level meetings in order to complete its professional programme. The work programme was primarily determined by the Spanish-Belgian-Hungarian trio presidency’s medium-term eighteen-month priorities; while chairing the presidency of the Council of the EU, however, Hungary influenced development and expansion of the six-month ‘curriculum’. As part of the Hungarian Presidency, and with the aid of Hungarian and foreign experts, the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice completed a thorough specialist programme, which is closely linked to the preparation of the recently-announced Zoltán Magyary Programme for the development of public administration. As part of this there was an examination of indices describing the effectiveness of the government’s work, the practical application of customer satisfaction surveys, and the elements of the career model for civil servants compared to European good practice, in order to portray public service as an attractive career path.

In accordance with tradition, to close the meeting Hungary handed over the silver bell symbolising the cooperation of European public administration to the Polish Presidency. In her speech, Krisztina Farkas stressed that this was a historic moment for Europe, as the work and successes of the Hungarian Presidency will continue in the spirit of one thousand years of Polish-Hungarian friendship.

Cerexhe receives petition for the simplification of administrative procedures for researchers

On Monday, 5 July 2010 Mr Benoît Cerexhe, the Brussels Minister for the Economy and Employment, in his capacity as President of the Competitiveness Council of the EU - Research Section, received the representatives of the ‘Trust Researchers' petition, led by Dr Sabine Herlitschka (Austria). The ‘Trust Researchers' representatives delivered to the President of the Competitiveness Council - Research Section a petition of over 13 500 signatures calling for the European authorities to implement as quickly as possible the administrative simplification programme for researchers throughout Europe.

In fact, everyone now agrees that the European programmes and the rules for participating in them have reached a degree of complexity that is at odds with their original objectives. There are many different procedures, the checks are too numerous and the waiting periods before agreements are made and funding can be received are too long. This ends up discouraging both researchers and businesses.

Perfectly aware of this problem, the Minister, Benoît Cerexhe, reminded the representatives that this simplification work was vital at all decision-making levels, including for the Regions, since the Regions are often the level closest to operators, particularly SMEs, research centres and universities.

In the name of the Belgian Presidency, Benoît Cerexhe informed the ‘Trust Researchers' representatives that he had agreed to make the ‘Simplification of the EU's research and innovation programmes' a focus for the Belgian Presidency. ‘Researchers need to rack their brains, not sift through papers', explained the President of the Competitiveness Council - Research Section. Simplification will also be one of the two priorities on the agenda of the informal ‘Research' Council to be held on 15 and 16 July 2010 in Brussels.

The Belgian Presidency wishes to present new conclusions containing advances with regard to simplification to the Council that will take place on 12 October. In Benoît Cerexhe's view, ‘the issue is the confidence that ought to be placed in researchers and finding the right balance between that confidence and the monitoring of the use of public funds. One of the avenues that we want to explore is moving away from the current approach, based on costs, to an approach based on results, while remaining aware that research always contains a certain proportion of risks and uncertainties'.

Consequently, the Belgian Presidency will ask the questions:
• about the awarding of fixed amounts instead of a detailed breakdown of expenses;
• about the levels of permitted error risk for the research sphere, since the costs of inspections may be greater than the amounts recovered in respect of errors identified during inspections.

Contact: Kathrine Jacobs +32 (0)2 508 79 17

New European cultural heritage platform in 2011

In 2011 there will be a new European cultural heritage platform intended to enable greater collaboration with all interested parties in Europe. After all, up until now, the heritage sector has lacked sufficient organisation at the European level. This was expressed in the ‘Bruges Declaration' that Flemish Minister for Immovable Heritage Geert Bourgeois presented at the close of a conference on the added value of cultural heritage.

"Cultural heritage plays an important role in the development of a unified yet diverse European identity", according to Minister Bourgeois. "That is why it is important to provide better support for our common cultural heritage and to more effectively place it on the European map."

European cultural heritage platform
Cultural heritage is not only important for national and regional governments. "That is why we are asking for the cooperation of all interested parties, such as the Council of Europe, civil society involved in cultural heritage and professionals as well as the European Parliament and the European Commission", says Bourgeois.
In 2011 an international think tank will be created in order to prepare for establishing a European cultural heritage platform. This cultural heritage platform should ensure greater collaboration between all parties involved in Europe.
The international think tank is being established in collaboration with the upcoming presidencies of Hungary and Poland. France, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and Norway are also interested in working on the project.

Cultural heritage conference
At the conference ‘cultural heritage: an added value for Europe' on 9 December the importance of cultural heritage and the major challenges related to it were discussed from a European perspective. The speakers included Claire Giraud-Lakalte (French Ministry for Culture and Communication), Simon Thurley (English Heritage) and Alison Crabb (European Commission, DG Culture, Education and Training).

In the afternoon, the speakers explored in-depth a number of potential strategies for better incorporating the interests of cultural heritage into the EU-policy. Prof. Jan Beyers (University of Antwerp) demonstrated the way that interest groups in other sectors work and how this could offer a potential model. Hubert David (Chairman European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils) presented the strategies that the environmental sector has used to place its interests on the EU-agenda. Liesl Vanautgaerden made an interesting presentation on the prospects offered by territorial cohesion for an integrated policy that encompasses cultural heritage, and specifically landscapes.

At the roundtable discussion, a number of leading actors debated the vision for the future.

Cultural heritage in Europe
The term cultural heritage can have many meanings. Cultural heritage is not only a question of monuments, historical cities, museums and collections. Cultural heritage is also traditions and customs, and natural and cultural landscapes.
These highly diverse forms of cultural heritage overlap with other sectors such as agriculture, town and country planning, media, research, the environment and tourism. This means that the European policy in numerous other sectors can have direct or indirect consequences for cultural heritage.