This concluding chapter is restricted to the main conclusions and recommendations which follow from the Analysis. They are conclusions concerning the basic orientation and the main principles and aspects of the reform. A whole number of additional conclusions and recommendations, more detailed or concerning only partial or specific areas, can be found directly in the text and in the conclusions of the individual chapters and are not repeated here.

7.1 Overall conclusions and recommendations

1. In the coming period the Czech Republic will cope with a number of tasks of key importance for its further democratic development, for strengthening the performance of its economy, for a satisfactory solution of social problems and for the strengthening of its internal and external security. A substantial role will be played in this respect through the involvement of the country in international cooperation. The preparation of our EU accession will require extraordinary efforts to be performed.
2. The solution of these tasks is impossible without highly competent and efficient public administration. The conclusions about the role of an effective state and about fully functional democratic public administration as prerequisites for a successful development of the economy and for fulfilling other social aims are valid for our country as well. The opinions and conclusions of renowned international organizations, based on analyses of the practice of dozens of states are summed up in the first part of the analysis.
3. Analytical work carried out within the framework of this project has confirmed and in some directions supplemented and specified the conclusions of EU documents on the situation of the Czech public administration and the necessary acceleration of its reform.
4. Today the Czech Republic has a public administration system which has basic prerequisites and facilities for the performance of its tasks, with its basic structure, human resources, financial, legal and other means and capacities. However, this holds true only on condition that human and other resources are utilized effectively, that neglected and delayed problems are solved at an accelerated pace and that the quality and efficiency of the administration reaches a compatible European level in the basic parameters within a short period of time.
5. The Analysis has confirmed the justifiability of critical reservations of documents and studies made by the EU and by Czech as well as foreign experts concerning the progress of the public administration reform in the Czech Republic, which is lagging considerably behind the overall transformation process of the society and which has become a serious limiting factor of the Czech Republic´s accession to the EU. The main causes of delays and deficits of the public administration reform have been an underestimation of the importance of public administration and of the public sector for a successful progress of democratic and pro-market transformation and the importance of effective administration and a functioning public sector for a balanced economic growth. The frequently emphasized truth that the reform is a long-term process consisting in the gradual implementation of the individual steps should not be a pretext for delaying the overall conception. Partial reform measures without a unifying conception, strategy and co-ordination not only cannot create a comprehensive reform, but they threaten that the reform will be implemented in an ineffective way, that funds and the human potential will be wasted and that we will "prepare" another inflation of legislative changes leading to further numerous difficulties.
6. It is necessary for the success of the public administration reform that it should become a political priority of the Government and that its implementation should have the support of all democratic political forces. The success of the reform will depend on the actual political support, including financial support, on the support of the public, on the utilization of information and communication technologies and, last but not least, on the protagonists of and participants in the reform. The preparation of the reform and, especially, its implementation cannot be the matter of a narrow circle of clerks and specialists. It is necessary to lead it as an open process with the participation of all available expert sources and practical experience, with specialists and in a dialogue with the general public. Extraordinary stress must be laid on keeping the direct participants, namely the public administration staff informed of the aim of strengthening their pro-reform involvement and limiting their fears and reorganization frustrations. This means, however, that each action of restructuring connected with transfers or reductions of staff numbers must be connected with retraining programmes and guarantees given by the employer.
7. The public administration reform has been understood in the Czech Republic in a very narrowed way as the setting-up of regional authorities and the adoption of the Civil Service Act. The aims of the reform which would secure the compatibility of our public administration with the Western level are much wider and deeper, they concern the very substance of public administration, its role, functions and means. Therefore, it will be substantial to follow the vision of the desirable future development of the Czech society, economy and state. The decisive question is: What kind of State do we want and what role should this State play in the future development of our society and country?
8. The public administration reform must be put into context with a reform of the public sector, with devolution and de-etatization of public services. It is the task of public administration to support the private sector, including small and medium-sized enterprises, to develop effective co-operative relations between the public and private sectors, to draft and implement effective sectoral, regional, social, health care, environmental protection and other policies. In all those areas the State must cooperate closely and reach consensus with the private sector, with the civic society and with the general public. A well-functioning public administration and public sector create conditions for the prosperity of private enterprises particularly by means of allocation of public investments and orders, by creating an optimum and rational infrastructure through the modernization of communication networks, information services for citizens and businesses, through providing professional and technical assistance to territorial self-government authorities and through other means. This also applies to the tasks of state administration in restricting "grey" economy, in securing proper collection of taxes, as well as discerning and preventing economic crime.
9. It is necessary to clarify - in the conception as well as in the further course of the reform - the extent and content of the tasks of public administration and of public services in fulfilling the social function of the State, or in meeting the obligations of the State to its citizens which correspond to their economic, social and cultural rights in accordance with the Charter, with the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other basic
10. It is necessary to reduce substantially the bureaucratic burden of citizens and businesses. The principle of "discreteness" of the administration is still applied excessively instead of the democratic principle of "publicity" of the administration. It is important for the relationship between the administration and the public that the administration should not act arbitrarily, especially in the decision-making in administrative proceedings. A citizen´s feeling of helplessness is often combined with unjustified non-activity of the administration against which the Czech legislation provides only little protection so far. The lack of trust in the administration is also evoked by inconsistent prosecution of public offences(administrative delicts and criminal offences which should be detected and investigated by the Police of the Czech Republic). The institution of Czech "ombudsman", whose task would be to deal with complaints not only in respect of legal procedures of administration but also primarily in respect of its inactivity, delays, inadequate forms of behaviour etc., which cannot usually be solved in administrative appellate procedure or within administrative judiciary, could be of considerable importance for harmonizing the relations between public administration and the public.
11. The public administration reform cannot be separated from the reform of legislation, from the strengthening of the relevant legal institutes and institutions. It is necessary to strengthen the legislative activity of the central government in the interest of harmonizing Czech law with the EU law, of understandability and clear overview of law and of strengthening the legal certainty of citizens. It is necessary to project OECD recommendations concerning the regulatory reform into the legislative rules and into the state administration practice. "Principles of administrative law relating to the relations between offices and private persons", a document of the Council of Europe expressing European standard in this area, should be projected into the regulation of administrative proceedings and administrative judiciary. It will be necessary to complete the system of administrative judiciary so that it can fulfil the role of a guarantor of legitimacy and impartiality of administrative decision-making, and to set up the Supreme Administrative Court, provided for by the Constitution, with the aim to increase the professionalism, uniformity and predictability of administrative decision-making and to reduce the workload of general courts and the Constitutional Court.
12. Due to our "skipping" the stage of a more detailed analysis of the past (not declaring clearly what we must abandon definitely and what positive things we should keep) and due to our acting without any comprehensive analysis and conception (which would clearly define the reasons, aims and means of the reform and put them in context), the reform is understood by some of its actors in a reduced form as selected "technical" measures, the "imposition" of pre-war or foreign models etc. Many principal questions relating to the sense of the changes, namely what state and what public administration we want and can have under the given conditions; what role should be played by state administration and by self-government in the model which is being prepared; what rules to apply to the privatization of public services and to the use of private companies for providing public services etc. have not been asked at all. This also applies to ascertaining what results and costs public administration performs its role with, how effective it is, how it is evaluated by the public and how it reacts to suggestions and criticism. The dispersed sporadic steps made so far to restrict bureaucracy and to improve organization etc. have a limited impact. They do not reach the core of the problem.
13. It is not necessary to "invent the invented", though. The experience of EU members and other countries is available. A number of studies have been made for the support of the reform in Central and East European countries and numerous exchanges of experience have taken place. The utilization of these opportunities has been weak so far as foreign contacts have been limited to a very narrow group of specialists with the necessary knowledge of languages, there is no national base for the study and research of public administration and for the analysis of policies and strategic studies in this area (whether at government or university level). As a consequence, significant documents and studies, such as OECD recommendations for the deregulation, the Rotterdam document of the SIGMA programme, the EIPA study, Maastricht 1997 and many others are not only unfamiliar to our authorities (not even mentioning the public) but they are not available within one place and, moreover, even the authors of various reform proposals often do not know them either.
14. A number of reform documents and proposals have been prepared in the course of the last years, and they contain a number of utilizable suggestions. However, an overall reform strategy has not been created yet. After November 1989, a qualitative change was achieved in the democratic and self-governing nature of public administration and basically also in the subordination of the administration to the rule of law. On the other hand, the status of the staff has remained practically intact and also personnel management motivating the staff to a higher level and effectiveness of their professional work is at the beginning. A purposeful personnel administration policy oriented towards the building of necessary personnel capacities for strategic decision-making, for conceptual management and for an overall transformation of the administration authorities corresponding to the changed role and functions of public administration has been neglected. The continuity of the administrative centralism supported by the long-term non-existence of a regional level of territorial administration and self-government also remains a weak item in the development of the Czech public administration.
15. Personnel management in state administration is split into sectors and its conception has not been clarified. According to our and foreign experts, the key priority should be the adoption of the Civil Service Act. For this, it will be necessary to prepare a) a concise legislative intent of the Civil Service Act with clearly formulated aims and alternative proposals, accompanied with expected impacts of the proposed solutions, or consequences of any further delays in respect of this act; b) a conception of the personnel policy and personnel management in civil service; c) a reform of the remuneration system in state administration.
16. The system of training of the staff of central government has been inconsistent and uncoordinated and its quality differs in the individual sectors. Training is often underestimated and the needs of its use for the implementation of the reform and for the personal development of individuals have not been clarified. A deeper analysis must be made of the existing situation in training and its barriers, of the main short-term and long-term needs of public administration organizations and individuals and of the possibility of using modern training conceptions and methods applied successfully both in the private and public sectors abroad. The strategy of training and development of human resources in state administration must be conceived and introduced into life as an inseparable part of the reform and development of personnel management in public administration. It will be necessary to establish an institution (e.g. an institute of state or public administration) for the conception and policy of training and for the preparation and implementation of the main training programmes in public administration.
17. Certain prerequisites for a favourable turn in the progress of the public administration reform have been created by the adoption of the constitutional act of 1997 according to which regional administration and self-government will be established in 2000, and a government resolution of March 1998 by which the Government approved the programme of further progress of the public administration reform and renewed work on the preparation of the Civil Service Act. A number of legislative proposals relating to regional and local self-government and state administration are being prepared in connection with the prepared second stage of territorial decentralization. Basic changes are being prepared in the field of public finance, as well as conditions for the application of the European structural funds policy. There has been some progress in the work and negotiations in the area of harmonizing Czech law with the Community legislation. The process of political reflection of this issue has been stimulated by criticism from the public and from business circles and by the need to bring public administration to a level comparable with European standards, competitive in relation to private sector and to abroad. Like in other transforming countries, a key role is played by the pressure connected with the EU accession process. However, the existing reform documents, including the government resolution mentioned above, connect the public administration reform only little with the public sector reform, with its transformation into public services, with the modernization of public services and with radical changes in the information and communication processes which not only mean the use of new technologies but also change substantially the role of information and conditions for the exercise of administration and requirements with respect to it.

7.2 Recommendations concerning further progress and management of the reform

1. All existing expert studies and discussions have agreed in the conclusion that the conception and implementation of the reform must be entrusted to a professionally equipped centre with adequate overview and power, capable of implementing the Government responsibility for the reform. This unit should work close to the Government (e.g. as a part of the Government Office) with a view to its role and to the need to protect the reform against sectoral pressures and discontinuity in the case of political changes. It would be possible to establish one centre for controlling the reform of public administration and civil service.
2. It is necessary to create highly competent background for the reform and for further enhancing state and public administration in the form of a centre or institute, entrusted with analytical studies, with acquiring information on foreign experience and evaluating it, information support for the reform, counselling for state administration authorities and possibly other specialist services. The institutional safeguarding of the training and development of public administration staff by establishing an institute of state administration or a similar organization is urgent as well. The establishment of a multi-functional institution would also be possible.
3. It is necessary for further progress of the reform to prepare primarily, as the basis of the reform strategy, a comprehensive vision of the reform, i.e. a clear idea of the aims which should be reached in building a modern and effective public administration for the development of the Czech society, economy and state for the third millenium, fully comparable with member countries of the European Union and capable of active cooperation with them.
4. The strategic plan of the reform for a period of 5 - 8 years must result from these basic aims and requirements. It should define the areas and tasks of the reform, material and time priorities, the main deadlines, the progress and sequence of implementing the changes, the organizational safeguarding, responsibility for the implementation and the necessary financial and other resources.
5. The reform strategy must be approved by the Government and submitted to the Parliament, which should be informed periodically about the progress of the preparation and implementation of the reform.
6. The strategy must also define certain basic principles of the reform, which include informing and involving the general public, the co-operation with business circles, the utilization of European experience and expertise and, especially, the maximum possible involvement of staff members of state and public administration at various levels both in the preparation of the reform measures and changes and in their actual implementation.