The European Parliament adopted by 599 votes to 99 with 49 abstentions a resolution on assessing how the EU budget is used for public sector reform.

Making better use of the Union's budget

Recalling that public administration in the Member States is fundamental to the implementation of the EU budget, Parliament called for all technical assistance programmes to be coordinated more closely so as to avoid overlap and ensure that measures will not be so ineffective as to cancel out all the Commission’s efforts to promote the combined use of funds with a view to exploiting synergies. It called on the next Commission President to assign responsibility for issues relating to better public administration and governance to one Commissioner.

The Commission was invited to improve systems for the exchange of good practice in order to help Member States implement best practices, without imposing policies geared towards wage devaluation and socially unsustainable reforms.

The resolution underlined that public sector reform is essential in helping Member States adapt to changing circumstances, to increase their resilience in order to prevent future crises and to improve service delivery across the Union, in particular with regard to new technology and IT systems.

Noting that the EU budget provides approximately EUR 9 billion in support to EU Member States for public administration reform, Members encouraged the Commission to match this financial support with the targeted sharing of knowledge, experience and good practices among Member States.

Recommendations

Among other recommendations, Parliament suggested:

- ensuring that the financing of eGovernment deployment measures should also be envisaged in future programming periods;

- implementing reforms within the Member States to apply the principle of good administration in practice with a view to improving the capacity of regions that are lagging behind to access to finance;

- promoting the implementation of programmes supporting the development of human resource strategies, in particular through exchanges of good practice between Member States;

- promoting coordination, complementarity and simplification in order to avoid overlaps between specific operational programmes and other EU funding;

- encouraging within public administrations innovative processes that promote connectivity, digital transition and the provision of quality digital services for citizens, businesses and public authorities, while taking into account the rapid development of new technologies in these areas.

The Commission is invited to:

- work more closely with Member States to support regions lagging behind, by improving their capacity and administrative governance;

- reintroduce a chapter on public administration and governance in the annual growth review; assess in advance the administrative capacity of the structures responsible for implementing development policies in order to encourage, for - - particularly strategic projects, the use of national structures and agencies capable of defining individual programmes and actions and accelerating their implementation;

- develop, in cooperation with Member States, a specific evaluation framework that takes into account the quantitative and qualitative aspects of high-quality public administration, and to build its own analytical capacities.

Dialogue and monitoring

Members proposed to set aside time in the parliamentary calendar for a structured dialogue with national parliaments on issues related to improving public administration in the EU. The monitoring and evaluation of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) should also be improved by defining specific indicators to assess progress towards the objectives and priorities set by the EU for public administration reform.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Brian Hayes (EPP, IRL) on assessing how the EU budget is used for public sector reform.

The report is based on a DG IPOL study published in August 2016 entitled "Public Sector Reform: How the EU budget is used to encourage it". The study shows that, while the EU budget has had a positive impact on public administration reforms in several Member States, there is considerable potential for the better use of the EU budget in this area.

Given that responsibilities for public administration are divided between different Commission departments, Members called for the better coordination of all technical assistance programmes to avoid duplication and inefficiency of measures, which undermine the Commission's efforts to promote coordination of the Funds in order to take advantage of synergies. Members invited the next President of the Commission to assign responsibility for questions regarding improving public administration and governance to a single Commissioner .

The report stressed that public sector reform is essential to help Member States adapt to changing circumstances, increase their resilience to prevent future crises, develop eGovernment and improve service delivery across the Union.

Among other recommendations , Members suggested:

ensuring that the financing of eGovernment deployment measures should also be envisaged in future programming periods; implementing reforms within the Member States to apply the principle of good administration in practice with a view to improving the capacity of regions that are lagging behind to access to finance; promoting the implementation of programmes supporting the development of human resource strategies , in particular through exchanges of good practice between Member States; promoting coordination, complementarity and simplification in order to avoid overlaps between specific operational programmes and other EU funding; encouraging within public administrations innovative processes that promote connectivity, digital transition and the provision of quality digital services for citizens, businesses and public authorities, while taking into account the rapid development of new technologies in these areas.

The Commission is invited to:

work more closely with Member States to support regions lagging behind, by improving their capacity and administrative governance; reintroduce a chapter on public administration and governance in the annual growth review; assess in advance the administrative capacity of the structures responsible for implementing development policies in order to encourage, for particularly strategic projects, the use of national structures and agencies capable of defining individual programmes and actions and accelerating their implementation; develop, in cooperation with Member States, a specific evaluation framework that takes into account the quantitative and qualitative aspects of high-quality public administration, and to build its own analytical capacities.

Members proposed to set aside time in the parliamentary calendar for a structured dialogue with national parliaments on issues related to improving public administration in the EU . The monitoring and evaluation of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) should also be improved by defining specific indicators to assess progress towards the objectives and priorities set by the EU for public administration reform.

Noting that the EU budget provided some EUR 9 billion to support public administration reform in EU Member States, Members urged the Commission to combine this financial support with a targeted sharing of knowledge, experience and good practice among Member States.