PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE BALKANS from Weberian bureaucracy to New Public Management Editors: Lucica Matei Spyridon Flogaitis SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPEAN ADMINISTRATIVE STUDIES Coordinator: Lucica Matei ASsee Online Series, No. 1/2011 2 South-Eastern European Administrative Studies ISBN 978-973-709-531-2 Copyright © Editura Economică, 2011 Autorii sunt responsabili de clarificarea dreptului de utilizare a informaţiilor cuprinse în lucrare. Coperta: Alexandru ION Revizie text: Carmen SĂVULESCU Tehnoredactare computerizată: Alexandra Irina TUDORICĂ Public Administration in the Balkans 3 Table of contents Foreword.................................................................................................................................................5 Chapter 1. Balkan Public Administrations between Transition and Modernity..............................7 Transformational Government and Beyond, from Weberian Bureaucracy to New Public Management...................................................................................................................7 Sylvia ARCHMANN Institutional Innovations and Trends in European Governance .....................................................12 Constantine A. STEPHANOU The Federal Bureaucracy: a Challenge for the European Union Administrative and Organizational Future................................................................................................................. 20 Panagiotis GRIGORIOU Croatian Public Sector - the „Labyrinth” of Public Sector Activity ...............................................37 Marija Kastelan MRAK Davor VAŠIČEK Local Self-government Reforms as an Ambivalent Means for Peace and Social Inclusion: the case of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) ....................................................51 Panagiotis KARKATSOULIS Chapter 2. Impact of Reforms on Public Administration in the Balkan States. National Experiences........................................................................................................................67 The Impact of Local Government Reforms in Greece: a Critical Overview ..................................67 Nikolaos-Komninos HLEPAS Reforms in the Bulgarian Public Administration..............................................................................88 Margarita SHIVERGUEVA Ivan NACHEV A Review of the Croatian Public Administration Reform..............................................................105 Vinko KANDŽIJA Davor MANCE Željka Tropina GODEC New Model of Regulatory Decision Making and the Public Administration Reforms. The Romanian Context .....................................................................................................119 Luminita Gabriela POPESCU 3 4 South-Eastern European Administrative Studies Chapter 3. A Balkan Model of Public Administration – Myth or Reality? .................................131 What’s in a name? The case of the European Administrative Consolidation in Croatia in comparison to the Central and Eastern Europe..........................................................................131 Diana-Camelia IANCU The Creation of an Independent Authority as a Measure of Compliance with European Law and Balancing Between Independence and Accountability: the Case of the Hellenic National Telecommunications' and Post Commission (EETT)” ...................................................................169 Vassilios KONDYLIS Impact of Public Internal Financial Control on Public Administration in Croatia.....................192 Vesna VAŠIČEK Martina DRAGIJA Mirjana HLADIKA Regulatory Reform – Regulatory Impact Assessment ....................................................................205 Kostantinos TSIMARAS Chapter 4. Administrative Convergence between Weberian Model and New Public Management ...................................................................................................................219 The Introduction of New Public Management Principles in the Italian Public Sector..............219 Calogero MARINO The Administrative Convergence in the Balkan area Empirical Analysis of Social Policy in Romania and Bulgaria...................................................................................................................239 Ani MATEI Tatiana-Camelia DOGARU Convergence of Croatian Financial and Budget Regulations to the Framework and Practices of the European Union ...............................................................................................256 Davor VAŠIČEK Ivana MALETIĆ Chapter 5. Evaluating a Case Study Relevant for NPM Application in Local Government ......269 E-Governance as a step of new public management .......................................................................269 Roumiana TSANKOVA Using the New Public Management’s instruments to measure the performance of local public transport service (RATB) in Bucharest...................................................................278 Alexandra IANCU Public Administration Reforms in Transition Countries: Albania and Romania Between the Weberian Model and the New Public Management .................................................................299 Denita CEPIKU . Cristina MITITELU Public Administration in the Balkans 5 Foreword The current volume reproduces papers presented in the Workshop which was organized in Athens, in February 2010 by the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) and the Faculty of Public Administration – National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (NSPSPA), Bucharest. The workshop entitled “Public Administration in the Balkans – from Weberian bureaucracy to New Public Management” has aimed to reveal relevant aspects on the developments of national public administrations in some Balkan states related to the traditional or actual models of the administrative organization. The organizers have proposed to approach theoretical and practical aspects focusing on Weberian bureaucracy and New Public Management (NPM). In this context, the general framework of debates was based both on specificity of public administration in the Balkan states and the European integration process, particularly the enlargement of the European Administrative Space to the Balkan area. As shown by a profound analysis in the papers, the characteristics of the public administrations are moreover diverse and get closer to the developments of the public administrations in Europe, such as the Mediterranean ones (Greece, Cyprus etc.) or those of the states in transition (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia etc.). The interactions with different intensities between Weberianism and New Public Management emphasise, generally, the characteristics of “a new Weberian state” (NWS) for the Balkan states (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2004, Meneguzzo et al, 2010), revealing a higher NPM impact (Cyprus, Greece, Croatia etc.) or a lower one (Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia etc.). NWS represents a metaphor describing a model that co-opts the passive elements of NPM, but on a Weberian foundation (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2004, Brown, 1978). The fact that the Balkan states belong more or less explicit to NWS triggers their position in post-NPM era, thus the state remaining an important actor, able to facilitate the public-private dialogue and to sustain the processes for enhancing the effectiveness of public services and administration. The public administration reforms in the Balkan states have targeted one or several European models of national administrations. Even if the concepts on reform comprise visible differences, the tradition, geo-political specificity, human and material resources have determined similarities and common characteristics, which could be emphasized in the development and actual status of administration in the Balkan states. At the same time, the administrative reforms have already introduced elements that enable the administrations in the Balkan states to get closer to the features of “public governance”. Herewith we refer mainly to participating in decision-making, introducing the elements of “neo-corporatism” governance etc. The capacity of adaptation and openness represent a valuable feature of the Balkan administrations, most of them holding systemic connections of low intensity, thus being far away from what we call “strong administration”, found especially in the European developed states. Recent studies support the above ideas, referring to “main drivers of public administration modernization”, placing most Balkan states in the “very low” or “medium” 5 6 South-Eastern European Administrative Studies area (Demmke et al., 2006). When referring to open government or ethics, the same studies place the Balkan states under the heading “very high influence”. Based on the above assertions, the papers emphasize concrete issues that could be synthesized in some large categories: - Balkan public administrations between tradition and modernity; - National experiences on the impact of the administrative reforms in Balkan states; - Myth or reality in considering “a Balkan model of public administration”; - Administrative convergence and dynamics as support of the evolution towards a certain model; - Assessing relevant case studies on enforcing NPM in local governance. It is also worth to mention that the approach of the participants in the workshop has been marked by the institutional innovations and trends in European governance, the debates concerning the model and characteristics of the European administration etc. The workshop was organized within