1. INTRODUCTION

To reform Czech public administration has become a historical necessity. Membership in the European Union, for which the Czech Republic has been preparing actively, depends on the overall improvement of the standards of public administration and the implementation of a considerable number of changes in virtually all fields of public administration. New requirements imposed on public administration result from the on-going processes of economic and social transformation. Decisions of both foreign and domestic investors tend to be increasingly influenced by the quality and reliability of public administration. At the international scene, the level of public administration has turned into a key factor of competitive advantage of nations. Conversely, the performance of Czech public administration has become a frequent target of criticism and complaints on the part of both citizens and the business community. It has become evident that this performance is failing to meet the new requirements and criteria.

Following the restoration of democracy in 1989 many improvements have been made in Czech public administration. However, changes were decided and implemented case by case, without any overall reform concept and strategy. Improvisation prevailed and thorny problems tended to be repeatedly postponed. The work on reform strategy could start only by the end of 1997 with the support of the PHARE project "Improvement of Public Administration in the Czech Republic - Phase One", the purpose of which was to revive the stagnating public administration reform and propose a reform strategy for the next 5-8 years. A significant incentive was provided by the EU Opinion on the Application of the Czech Republic for Accession to the European Union, which criticized the quality of Czech public administration. The Accession Partnership, approved by the EU Commission in March 1998 after consultations with the Czech Government, specified concrete improvement requirements to be carried out in Czech public administration in the course of the preparation for membership, i.e. before accession to the EU.

The National Training Fund (NTF), which has assumed responsibility for the organization and implementation of the PHARE project, has prepared and submitted two principal documents, viz (1) Analysis of Public Administration in the Czech Republic (with annexes and more than twenty special studies prepared for this analysis), and (2) Proposals for a Strategy of Public Administration Reform in the Czech Republic (the present document). The core NTF team responsible for the project benefited from participation of a large number of Czech specialists of public administration practice and theory as well as experts from European institutions such as SIGMA (joint OECD and EU programme for public administration development in Central and Eastern Europe) and EIPA (European Institute of Public Administration). Materials providing insights into public administration reforms in some EU member states and countries applying for accession were also available.

During the short period of project execution the government has changed twice, which has also resulted in the changes of immediate political priorities. Therefore, the project had to "find and gain its place" regardless of insufficient stability of the political environment. Indubitably this was facilitated by the fact that the need of a profound public administration reform had at last started to be perceived as a national priority and not merely a matter of one or another political perspective. The first step on this way was made by adopting Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 202 on the Proposal of Further Steps of the Government in Public Administration Reform of 23 March 1998. The Programme Declaration of the Government of the Czech Republic of August 1998 included the public administration reform among the measures regarded as essential by the Government and specified a number of reform directions and measures. The Proposals are, therefore, based on this last Government Declaration and present proposals for its implementation in the field of public administration reform. In the past few weeks the NTF has also succeeded in developing closer cooperation links with the Ministry of the Interior and other government and public administration authorities. Many questions covered in the Proposals could be discussed with them. For this reason some measures envisaged by the Government could already be included into the proposed strategy and further elaborated in some cases.

However, in spite of this improved cooperation and communication the Proposals have remained the product of an independent professional team (see the list of collaborators and consulted experts in Annex 1). Owing to the volatility and instability of the political situation it has not been possible to establish early enough a Project Steering Committee consisting of leading representatives of the key public administration bodies, to thoroughly assess the draft of this report and provide guidelines for its finalization. It is important to see that in the Czech Republic the trends and phases of public administration reform and improvement are subject to different opinions in political circles, among professionals and within public administration itself. Some issues clearly require more discussion. Solutions have to be sought that will acquire the greatest support and chance of being not only adopted, but also implemented. Obviously, this could not be ignored in drafting the strategy, which could be developed in greater depth and detail in some areas, while merely outlining the directions of further search for adequate solutions and stressing the need for more discussion in others.

The Proposals endeavour to provide a balanced, comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to the reform, which must apply a combined perspective and utilize specialist expertise of administrative sciences, law, economics, finance, political science, sociology, human resource management and development, general management, information technology and other fields and disciplines. The Proposals warn against simplified and one-sided approaches still persisting in the minds of some public administration officials, who tend to believe that everything can be resolved by issuing new orders and regulations. The Proposals put considerable emphasis on improvements in competencies, training, administrative culture and ethics, motivation, communication with the public, style of work, operational management and control. The authors of the Proposals are well aware of the fact that high efficiency and a new culture of public administration cannot be achieved overnight and that the reform will be a long-term process. Hence they recommend to proceed in phases, determine and monitor a limited number of priorities in every phase, and consistently monitor and evaluate the progress of the whole reform in order to adjust the reform strategy and tactics to the evolving conditions.