Easily accessible and efficient public administration services proved its value in the time of pandemic. Serbian public administration modernization continues with the EU support. Smart planning of the further development is of great importance.

The Serbian Government has recently adopted a new Public Administration Reform (PAR) Strategy, which sets out the direction of development and changes in the field of public administration in the next 10 years. This document was developed with the support of the European Union.

Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Sem Fabrizi, says that the adoption of the Strategy is the first step, and that it is crucial to ensure its implementation. The adopted document envisages efficient, responsible and transparent administration, tailored to the needs of citizens and the commercial sector, says the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Marija Obradović.

Public Administration Reform Strategy 2021-2030 and its accompanying Action Plan were developed with the assistance of the European Union; experts from two EU-funded projects supporting PAR in Serbia (EU4PAR and PAR Visibility & Communication Project) were engaged in the process. The projects began in 2018 and will continue until 2023.

The PAR process in Serbia is implemented under the slogan “Administration tailored to all of us” (Serbian: “Uprava po meri svih nas”) and through the new PAR Strategy it focuses on citizens and envisages a depoliticized, efficient administration which provides quality services. Minister Marija Obradović says that the document is not a “set of general issues”, as it can often be the impression of both citizens and the expert community, and adds:

“It is focused on everyday life, citizens and the commercial sector, and we try to make all services in the public sector practical, accessible to citizens, simple and easy. This is the essence of public administration reform, to help people to avoid any headache when they need to enrol a child in kindergarten, school, when they need to get a new passport, register a car or register their new company. It should be stress-free. It should be a simple service that you will perform quickly and easily, finding out that the state administration is right there for all of us.”

The new Strategy was developed and adopted with the support that the EU continuously provides to public administration reform. Ambassador Fabrizi emphasizes the importance of its adoption, but states that it is just one necessary step:

“The adoption of the Strategy is not sufficient in itself; it is crucial to ensure its full implementation in the coming period, including all planned measures and activities. The European Commission will continue to monitor closely in the coming period the implementation of specific policies and regulation in practice. For example, in the case of public services, the Serbian Government has already shown political commitment and results in the digitalization process. With the new Strategy, it will be not only sufficient to adopt a programme for the development of the E-government or to create a legal framework to reduce bureaucracy and burden for citizens. It will be also crucial to ensure the full implementation in practice.”

The Ministry which coordinates the reform agrees that the adopted Strategy is only a step further in the right direction:

“Firstly, we must strengthen human, technical and technological capacities, we must introduce technological innovations. It is of crucial importance to prepare the citizens and the economy to use this type of services, to be focused on new information technologies. Plainly speaking, these applications by which the state wants to get closer to the citizens, citizens and the economy must be informed about them. We have to prepare them to use them.”

“The purpose of the well-functioning administration, which is professional, efficient and transparent, is above all to enable a good functioning of the society and to improve and facilitate the life of the citizens. In this respect, we believe that the adoption of the new PAR Strategy is a very important step forward toward a better functioning of administration, and we’re looking forward to witnessing its full implementation showing Serbia’s ability to respond to expectations and tasks of the EU accession process as well as to respond to requests and needs of its citizens”, Ambassador Fabrizi concluded.

Since 2014 Enlargement Strategy, the European Union places public administration reform among the pillars of the EU accession not only for Serbia, but for all candidate countries and potential candidates for EU membership.