Introduction and Information About the School

Informal ERT meeting Brussels October 23, 2015 Short summary

Introduction and information about the School

David Walker welcomed participants and started the meeting by saying a few words about the European School of Administration.

The School was born out of a crisis and its creation was among the proposals contained in the Commission's administrative reform of 2000. Its formal mandate is to provide training to new staff, people in informal or formal management positions or likely to move into one, and the certification programme which allows a limited number of assistant grade staff to become administrators each year.

Its prime mission is to provide training to existing staff of all the European institutions after they have been recruited: it does not prepare candidates for EPSO competitions.

The School is funded through the EU's general budget. It offers its courses free to the institutions. It only charges if an institution asks for customised training or when staff come from EU agencies. The School tries to balance the participation staff from different institutions on its courses. Generally 70% of participants are from the Commission and the remaining 30% from the rest of the institutions.

25 people work for the School (Brussels and Luxembourg). 7 people work on the design and development of programmes. No courses are taken "off the peg": they are co-created with external contractors so as to ensure that they are of high quality and relevant to the European Civil Service.

The School is now in the process of designing its new generation of management and leadership programmes, shifting from a vertical approach to a horizontal one: what do I need as a manager for managing myself, to manage my team, to manage my environment.

David handed out the School's brochure containing a summary of all its training programmes, repeating the existing invitation of the School to all members of the network to send participants from time to time to a selection of its courses. This is part of the School's contribution to ERT activities. He then opened the discussion on ERT programmes.

1 Discussion on ERT programmes - participants' contributions

Netherlands: Do not offer a general programme every year due to lack of interest and to the way the organisation is set up. PBLQ prefers to communicate its readiness to organise study visits on specific themes. The objective is to offer participants an opportunity to get an understanding of how things work in the country and why, as well as individual counterpart meetings to help people establish their own networks. In December PBLQ will offer a programme for Germany and Austria. PBLQ announces the possibility of organising a study visit to learn more about the upcoming presidency as well as reserving a slot for the ERT during its DISPA meeting in April.

Sweden: Officials from the EC often work with the Swedish desk within their DG/area. Some might know the language but it is not a requirement for participation. The participants on the sessions for people from all member states are much more heterogeneous. The Institute receives funding for the study visits but not for the ERT programmes. Would be interested in receiving participants from other institutions but might need a separate programme from the Commission one.

Germany: BAköV has an experience of approximately 25 years in ERT programmes. In the beginning BAköV offered 2 seminars per year, one in German and one in English. Each seminar is evaluated. At the end of each seminar, the seminar leader holds a conversation, and each participant has to fill out an evaluation sheet. Results of the conversation and sheets are put together in a report, which has to be signed by the head of unit as well as the head of the academy before it becomes a part of the file, which has to be kept for 5 years. BAköV will continue to offer the seminar "Germany and Europe" on a yearly basis and to go on with bilateral activities, mainly with Austria, Czech Republic, France, Spain and Sweden and the states with upcoming presidencies, but is open to cooperate with others as well. The seminar "Germany and Europe" for 2016 is scheduled Nov.28 to Dec.2, and will take place in Berlin and Dresden (Saxony).

Finland: Important for the coming presidencies to organise ERT programmes. They try to promote Spain’s and Germany’s programmes. Present challenge: state admin is facing a lot of structural changes and it is financially a difficult period, it's not easy for a participant to pay for an ERT programme if it’s not considered absolutely necessary. HAUS could do much more. HAUS mainly organises international training programmes lasting 3-4 weeks to study e-gov, decentralisation, educational system, anti- corruption etc. It is open to the idea of organising ERT programmes if there is interest. However, they are not allowed to organise a free course and so participants will have to pay for the training and accommodation. Promise to market even harder the existing programmes in Finland to get Finnish participants to the ERT programmes.

2 Poland: There are study visits for top officials based on bilateral cooperation with member states and the more specific the programmes the bigger the interest. However, the smaller the group the better the results. Great experience from a programme in the Netherlands.

Spain: ERT programmes are open to officials from the EC and the member states. It works well and logistically it would be difficult to organise 2 different programmes. Evaluation from EC: wanted more presentations on political subjects and participants from the MS want more free time. The programmes include presentations, visits to institutions, meeting with counterparts in Spain. There were 47 participants on the last programme divided bout 50-50 from EC and the MS. Programmes are offered in English.

Latvia: Can we identify possible financial instruments to support the ERT programmes?

France: No organisation of ERT programmes due to financial constraints.

Malta: Challenge to organise a 3½ days programme plus the counterpart meetings. Sessions mainly organised according to which DG people come from.

EUSA: The School offered to organise a programme within the framework of the ERT (EU4ERT) – the outline proposal is enclosed. This programme could be offered 3 times per year maximum. The participants were interested in such a programme but foresee a problem in that too many people would apply for it. It could be very labour-intensive and difficult to decide against which criteria participants should be chosen. The School will reflect, notably to see if the programme could be adapted for a bigger number of participants and to make very explicit the target audience (not people who need expert knowledge of the EU).

Draft conclusions

 Experience shows that the success of the ERT depends largely on the enthusiasm of the individual people who take part in the network. Several bilateral and multilateral arrangements work well as a result and have been running successfully for many years.  In order to encourage more DISPA members to participate, it would be useful to prepare a "best practice package" of an ERT programme so that they can see clearly what it's about and what the benefits are. In general, the more concrete the theme, the more successful the event.  This package could be presented at the DISPA meeting in the Netherlands. Mariette (Netherlands), Katharina (Germany), Petra (Sweden) and Fay (EUSA) will work on the

3 package but anyone else who wishes to join is welcome and should contact Fay within the next 2 weeks.  David will discuss with the European Commission about its policy regarding the programme of study visits to Member States, as there is something of a link between these and ERT initiatives. We might examine if these could be opened to staff from other institutions, although some ERT members felt a different programme would then be needed.  The ERT network would certainly benefit from more regular meetings. It was agreed that the School would check with the School or Institute in each upcoming Presidency country to see whether they would be prepared to organise an ERT meeting. If not, the School would in principle be prepared to host one in Brussels.  ERT members will reflect on whether it is worth trying to re-launch the webinars, although not everyone is convinced they will catch on, especially in the light of previous experience. They need to be focused thematically and adequately advertised. Anyone who is willing to make an attempt should let Fay know. The School will also reflect whether it could make a contribution.  Participants will reflect on an outline programme suggested by the School as its contribution to the ERT: a 2½-day seminar in Brussels giving participants an overview and understanding of the EU "big picture" as seen from the inside. The School will also continue its reflections, particularly as regards the number of likely participants and target audience (non-specialists).  In order to exploit the ERT part of the DISPA pages on the School's website better, the School will contact members about every 2 months to see if there is anything new to post.  As regards financial arrangements for ERT initiatives, even though the current situation varies from country to country this is unavoidable and does not seem to cause major difficulties in practice.

4 EU4ERT

Object: proposal of a training seminar in the framework of the ERT

The European School of Administration is willing to take part in the development of the ERT network, in the context of an increasing need for cooperation and exchanges between public administrations in Europe.

The following proposal consists of a seminar that would be developed specifically for the ERT initiative and aims at offering a programme in Brussels that makes the most of its role as "Capital of Europe".

Objectives of the seminar:

-Give participants an insight into and an understanding of the EU big picture

-Offer an opportunity to go beyond the classroom by seeing the places where decisions are made

- Provide a forum for exchanging ideas with some of the key actors in Brussels

Content1:

- A seminar giving an overview of the EU institutions, the key players and procedures, illustrated with photographs, documents, examples and real life stories. Special attention is paid to recent developments.

- A conference on current developments in the EU

- A visit to some of the places where decisions are made (Commission meeting room …), a meeting in the Permanent Representation of the participant and a visit to the Parlamentarium, the interactive Visitors' Centre of the European Parliament.

Duration and number of participants:

2½ days

15 participants

1 The seminar focuses on the big picture: it does not explain in detail how the decision-making procedures work as specialised training seminars already exist for this.

5 Agenda

13:15 – 14:00 Welcome and sandwich

Aims and possible strategy for ERT in the future:

 Experience from past programmes 14:00 – 15:30  Targets  Themes  Financial issues

15:30 – 15:45 Coffee break

15:45 – 17:00 News and activity reports from ERT members

Dinner by EUSA at "L’Esprit de Sel Brasserie" 19:00 (Place Jourdan 52-54 - 1040 Bruxelles)

If you have any questions please contact:

Fay Giannarou, [email protected], tel. +32 229 21 840

Rosa Galan-Saucedo, [email protected], tel. +32 229-80936 (practical arrangements)

6 Participants

Mariette Baptist-Fruin

PBLQ 1 [email protected] The Netherlands | +31 70 376 36 36 | +31 6 22 54 40 05 | www.pblq.nl

Petra Göransson

Senior Strategic HR Development Officer Swedish Council for Higher Education 2 Department for International Affairs [email protected] Phone: +46-10-470 0659 Mobiel: + 46-72-572 05 38

Katharina Konstanty

Federal Academy of Public Administration in the Federal Ministry of the Interior -European Skills and International Competences- 3 Willy-Brandt-Str. 1, 50321 Brühl, Germany Tel.: +49 (0) 228 99 629 - 5310 PC Fax: +49 (0) 228 99 10 629 - 5310 [email protected] www.bakoev.de

Yurii Kovbasiuk

President of the National Academy for Public Administration 4 under the President of Ukraine [email protected] Phone/fax: +380 44 4812151

Anneli TEMMES

5 HAUS kehittämiskeskus Oy (HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Administration) [email protected] http://www.haus.fi] Klaudia Wojciechowska

Head of Development and Continuing Training Centre of the KSAP. NATIONAL SCHOOL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Wawelska 56 Str. 6 00-922 Warsaw [email protected] phone: +48 22 60 80 122 fax: +48 22 60 80 216 www.ksap.gov.pl

7 Laura Pérez Martos

International Relations Department National Institute of Public Administration (INAP) 7 Atocha, 106, 28012-Madrid, España Tel.: +34 912739233 [email protected]

Edite Kalnina Director

Latvian School of Public Administration 8 Raina blvd. 4, LV-5001, Riga, Latvia Ph. +371 67229116; +371 67213478 [email protected] www.vas.gov.lv

Julie Leprêtre

Relations avec les institutions européennes Direction des Affaires européennes 9 c/o Représentation permanente de la France auprès de l’Union européenne Place de Louvain 14 – 1000 Bruxelles Tel : + 32 (0)2 229 84 08 ; GSM : + 33 (0)6 77 82 09 62 ; [email protected]

Joanna Genovese Director Training & Development, CDRT t: +356 22001875 f: +356 22001877 m: +356 79467837 [email protected] www.cdrt.gov.mt www.primeminister.gov.mt OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER 10

David Walker

European School of Administration Director [email protected] 11 (+32) 2 29 99300 (+32) 2 29 21843 Internet http://europa.eu/eusa

12 Fay Giannarou European School of Administration

Design & Development

8 Training & Development Advisor Fay.giannarou@ ec.europa.eu (+32) 2 29 21840 (+32) 2 29 21843 http://intracomm.ec.testa.eu/home/dgserv/eusa

Karine Auriol European School of Administration

Design & Development Training & Development Advisor 13 [email protected] (+32) 2 29 21840 (+32) 2 29 21843 http://intracomm.ec.testa.eu/home/dgserv/eusa