Skopje, 6 December 2024 (MIA) - The latest report of the European Commission says that we are moderately prepared in the area of public administration reforms, and the recommendations in the last five to ten years are being reiterated. However, it is important to point out that the recommendations are literally copied from last year for this year as regards the set of laws that should be adopted for the start of public administration reforms, Minister of Pyblic Administration Goran Minchev told Telma TV's "Top Tema" on Friday. 

According to Minchev, the reform in the public administration is a long and difficult process, and it can neither be completed overnight nor in a month, or a year, but it is ongoing.

"First, it is important to point out that with the amendments to the law on the organization and work of the state administration bodies, a new ministry was formed that emerged from the Ministry of Information Society and Administration. So, a new legal entity, it is the Ministry of Public Administration. It is the first indication that this Government is also focused on reforms in public administration, and it has a strong political will, very decisively, to undertake a long, difficult and painful reform in public administration," said Minchev. 

As a Ministry, he added, three laws have been withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure and this, he noted, was done for two reasons.

"First, because there is a legal entity, which is the Ministry of Public Administration, and the Ministry of Public Administration appears as the bearer of those three key laws. The second reason is more serious and refers to all the indications in the report of the European Commission, which is to make better, more systematic, higher quality laws that will have a greater scope. Within that idea, the Ministry of Public Administration also changed the approach to making these laws. If the previous government made these laws within the government premises, we have changed this process, i.e. we have completely opened it up. When I say we opened it, I mean involving all stakeholders who can make a contribution, in order to have laws that will be of the highest quality, systemic, that will enable reform in the public administration. I classify these laws as the beginning of reforms in public administration," Minchev said. 

He also commented on the recommendations of the Fiscal Council regarding retirement age at 67, noting that it is too early to talk about raising the retirement age.

"These are recommendations of the Fiscal Council. Its members are people with really great expert experience and, of course, those recommendations should be analysed well, their views are respected, but, according to a mini analysis, as a Government, we believe that it is too early to raise the retirement age," Minchev said. 

Photo: MIA archive