An inexplicable decision of Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko to suspend civil service reform, relying on an allegedly negative assessment by the European Union of the legislation, left experts with one question:
Who and why would
be interested in sinking the civil service bill, which is touted as a way to
help transform Ukraine’s corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy into a highly
professional and transparent service?
The answer is:
there are at least three groups of interest.
The
first group is Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk, Viktor Tymoshchuk from the Center for Political and Legal Reforms
said on Sept. 23 at the Crisis Media Centre.
Because
of the bill “they lose the right to appoint people they favor at the key posts.
Instead, a bill introduces open competitions,” Tymoshchuk explained,
emphasizing that Yatsenyuk has never publicly spoken for or against the civil
service reform, although the bill was prepared by the government.
The second group is
Ukrainian ministers, who are allegedly afraid of the new office of ministerial
secretaries who will manage all the administrative work in the ministries if
the bill is adopted.
But introduction of
state secretaries is “a necessary requirement of the good governance, said Tymoshchuk. “Otherwise, there will be no
effective and stable government.”
Finally,
the third group consists of politicians who came from business and believe that
the only remedy they have is to fire and hire new staff. “But things can’t be
done like that because state is not a private company … We need order and
understanding that we can lose control over the country if we pursue such
radical measures,” Tymoshchuk said.
Deputy
Head of Ukraine’s Presidential Administration Dmitry Shymkiv said it is
good that Poroshenko raised this issue at the National Reform Council’s meeting
on Sept. 18 to stimulate public debate.
He
also added that it is important to draw a line between the EU’s dissatisfaction
with the lack of Ukraine’s strategy of governance reform and the bill.
“Indeed,
Ukraine doesn’t have a strategy of implementation of the bill,” said Denys
Brodsky, ex-head of the National Agency on Civil Service.
The
EU wants to know for which structural reforms Ukraine needs additional funding,
Kostyantyn Vashchenko, head of the Ukraine’s National Agency on Civil Service
explained referring to EU’s will to allocate Ukraine 800 million euros.
And
civil service is only a meager part of bigger governance reform, which includes
simplification of administrative services, reform of Cabinet of Ministers and
central executive bodies, formation of governmental policy and transparency of
governmental activities, Vashchenko added noting that Justice Ministry already
drafted a strategy and is now waiting for its approval by the central executive
bodies and, subsequently, the government.
Apart
from lack of overall strategy for reform of governance and public
administration in Ukraine, there are two stumbling blocks on the way of civil
service bill: procedure of dismissal of civil servants and wages.
However,
neither of these issues fall within a subject of civil service bill, said
Shymkiv. While labor code sets down a procedure for dismissal of civil
servants, the salary issue needs to be resolved by Cabinet of Ministers and has
nothing to do with a proposed bill.
Meantime,
a bill has two undisputed advantages. It finally approximates Ukraine’s bloated
civil service with European standards through a clear differentiation between
political and civil service positions and introduction of open selection
procedures within the civil service.
Second,
the process of drafting of the bill was transparent so that everyone could join
a discussion, said Vashchenko noting that lawmakers proposed 1214 changes to
the bill.
“Everyone
who is now throwing arrows of criticism at us was repeatedly welcome to cooperate,
but they chose not to do so,” emphasized Vashchenko.
“And
again I welcome everyone who has any complaints (about the bill) to join a
discussion. Otherwise, this is nothing but a desire to defer an adoption of the
bill for half-year or a year.”
Despite
growing disappointment with attempts to destroy a bill, experts still believe
it will be eventually passed during the parliamentary session.
State building, regional
policy, and local government committee is planning to discuss a bill on Sept.
25. Besides, Shymkiv promised to raise a question of civil service bill again
at the regular meeting of National Reforms Council on Oct. 1.
“My
dream is that we will build a country where civil servants are treated with
respect,” said Shymkiv. “Why am I protecting the law?” Shymkiv asked
rhetorically. “Because I know how many efforts were made to draft this bill.
And we are a step from a result.”
Kyiv Post’s legal affairs
reporter Mariana Antonovych can be reached at [email protected]
