Meeting of Sarajevo Canton Leaders and EU Delegation Representatives: Public Administration Reform Necessary

Public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at all levels of government—state, federal, cantonal—is necessary to make the concept of public administration more efficient and contribute to a faster reform path. The Law on Civil Servants of Sarajevo Canton is one of the planned reform laws, which the Government considered in the form of a Draft.

It was the occasion for today's meeting of the President of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, Seja Bukva, Prime Minister Elmedin Konaković, and Minister of Justice and Administration in the Canton Government, Enver Smajkan, with representatives of the Political Department of the European Union Delegation in BiH, Slavomir Gogo and Alma Šakota, reports the Patria news agency.

The common position of all present is the unquestionable need to reform the current public administration, as the existing laws governing this area have not best responded to the processes of creating a modern administration.

As emphasized by the European Union and in messages from Brussels, public administration reform should be based on the principles of efficiency, transparency, and sustainability.

Their concern was highlighted regarding the proposed legal solutions that "set back" processes, i.e., move them away from these principles and emphasize the political dimension of the announced changes. The practices of European countries in this area are diverse, tailored to the needs of each country, so Bosnia and Herzegovina must also take into account its own political circumstances and specificities when regulating this area, the European Union emphasized.

-The current Law on Civil Service of the Federation of BiH, the role of the Civil Service Agency, numerous shortcomings in the practice of evaluating the work of civil servants, the inertia and complacency of certain officials are precisely a consequence of the lack of an efficient system for measuring work results and efficiency. With the Law on Civil Service of Sarajevo Canton, we want to change that. We have not yet reached final solutions; we are seeking optimal ones that will successfully implement reform processes, stated Prime Minister Konaković at today's meeting, as announced by the Sarajevo Canton Government.