Europe’s public administrations in flux: public service under threat?
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 26 June 2014 (26th Sitting)
(see Doc. 13529, report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities
and Institutional Affairs, rapporteur: Mr Tiny Kox). Text adopted by the Assembly on
26 June 2014 (26th Sitting).See
also Recommendation
2050 (2014).
1. In most Council of Europe member
States, very substantial public administration reforms were recently introduced
with serious effects on the organisation, size and quality of public
administration and public services. Large parts of the public sector
were privatised, public tasks were outsourced and agencies were
created to deliver public services outside the control of the State.
New public management methods introduced markets, managers and measurement
of performance into public services to achieve greater cost efficiency
for governments.
2. Since the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, severe
austerity measures have put public administrations, public services
and social cohesion under ever more pressure and have led to a new
wave of reforms in administration and cuts in public administration
and services, new privatisations and “agencification” of large parts
of public services. Governments are appealing to private capital
to continue to deliver and finance some public services. Privatisation
and deregulation policies have been enacted in most European States
in order to stimulate the market and to bring additional assets
to State budgets.
3. In central and eastern Europe, transformation of a State-led
economy into a market-oriented economy went along with massive and
accelerated privatisation, which has provided governments with much
needed revenues. However, it also led to the introduction of private
ownership in situations where other crucial aspects of the business
environment were not yet sufficiently developed to support the private
economy, and it also proved to be a source of massive corruption.
4. Several member States of the European Union recently signed
memoranda of understanding with the European Commission as a condition
for loans to privatise parts of the public sector and assets. Restructuring plans
of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in eurozone countries always
include a commitment to privatise public property.
5. Some of these reforms, based on new public management ideas,
have been successful and have been adopted in many Council of Europe
member States. One can observe an improvement in the quality of
services due to greater competition among service providers, to
smaller and easier-to-steer central governments resulting from a
separation of policy execution from policy development, and to improved
transparency owing to the reclassification of the budget on the
basis of output areas.
6. However, at the same time, other reforms have led to undesired
effects, including:
6.1 cuts in
the public sector;
6.2 growth of support services and administrative executive
agencies;
6.3 accumulation of public funds in agencies outside the control
of the government and loss of government control of service delivery;
6.4 problems in the implementation of policies, due to the
separation of policy execution and policy development;
6.5 higher costs; reduction in the quality of services for
citizens and businesses in many areas; lower consumer satisfaction
and confidence;
6.6 lack of motivation of employees in service delivery;
6.7 increased public debt levels; sales of assets lower than
expected.
7. Many governments today see themselves confronted with a highly
fragmented public sector and with a substantial lack of co-ordination
and co-operation. The combined effects of reforms, privatisation
and new austerity measures in the public sector may have contributed
to a loss of the people’s trust in governments throughout Europe.
8. A new series of adjustments in the public sector throughout
Europe has been implemented, based on labour force reductions, wage
cuts and cuts in training of public sector personnel, which have
negatively influenced public sector performance. Social dialogue
on public administration reform and collective bargaining has come
under heavy pressure. Public sector practices are now converging
with those in the private sector: job security, pay and working
conditions in Europe’s public sector have deteriorated substantially.
Uniform wage cuts in the public sector have increased overall inequality
as they hit lower scales harder. The phenomenon of a “public sector
working poor” is emerging throughout Europe. This development is
also leading to an increased turnover of public sector employees.
Women are harder hit by public sector adjustments, as they represent
a major part of public sector employees.
9. According to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human
Rights, this new political reality presents a threat to over six
decades of social solidarity and expanding human rights protection
across Council of Europe member States. Public social spending –
especially in education, health care, social protection schemes
and social benefits – has in fact been the primary target of austerity
measures in many member States. In times of crisis, social, economic
and other human rights – the right to work, rights at work, social protection,
pensions, housing, food, water, education and health care – are
put under great strain.
10. The Assembly, recalling its
Recommendation 1617 (2003) on civil
service reform in Europe, in which, in view of the unique role and
contribution of public administrations to social cohesion and employment,
it encouraged member States to consider carefully all possible consequences
before introducing new, private sector-oriented management methods:
10.1 expresses its concern that recent
public administration reforms in member States might nevertheless
have been guided to too great an extent by managerial and budget
criteria with a negative effect on the functioning of public administration,
the quality of public services and the trust of citizens in public
administration and the functioning of democracy;
10.2 emphasises that public interest cannot simply be defined
by the need to make savings and has to include the proper functioning
of society;
10.3 reaffirms that a high-quality civil service is a vital
precondition for strong democracy and the rule of law and that therefore
member States have to place the interests of their citizens and
Europe’s common values at the heart of any future administrative
reform;
10.4 reaffirms that States and their administrations have a
leading role in ensuring the welfare of all members of society,
minimising disparities and avoiding polarisation, in accordance
with the Council of Europe’s definition of social cohesion;
10.5 considers that, in times of economic and budgetary crisis,
governments have the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil economic,
social and cultural rights, in order to avoid further erosion and retrogression
of these rights and disproportionate impacts of austerity measures
on particular sectors of the population;
10.6 strongly supports the recommendations of the Commissioner
for Human Rights on how to safeguard social, economic and other
basic rights in times of crisis.
11. Moreover, the Assembly asks the parliaments of the Council
of Europe member States to:
11.1 properly
evaluate reform measures taken in the field of public administration
and public service and learn from the experiences of other parliaments;
11.2 develop well-defined structures to achieve more clarity
about the different forms of policy execution, both public and private;
11.3 put in place a clear and consistent decision-making framework
and benchmarks with regard to privatisation and “agencification”
and make supervision of these the responsibility of government and parliament;
and standardise and clarify how decisions about privatisation and
“agencification” should be implemented;
11.4 reconsider whether recent or expected reform measures,
privatisations and “agencifications” are in line with the political
concept of social cohesion, which is essential for the fulfilment
of the three core values of the Council of Europe: human rights,
democracy and the rule of law;
11.5 improve – when and where needed – the functioning of public
administration and public services so that they make an effective
contribution to the achievement of the Council of Europe’s core
values;
11.6 promote the ratification and proper implementation of
the European and international human rights instruments in the field
of economic and social rights, in particular the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the European Social Charter
(revised) (ETS No. 163), the European Code of Social Security (revised)
(ETS No. 139) and conventions of the International Labour Organization
(ILO).
