The draft bill being debated in Parliament was a “true breakthrough” in relations between governments, the political system and state mechanisms, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in Parliament on Wednesday, during the discussion of an interior ministry bill government the system for selecting senior public-sector administrations and increasing their efficiency.
The prime minister said that the new measures will end a state of affairs where senior public-sector staff were the “personal selection” of each minister, as had largely been the case until now.
“We are today strengthening the institutional framework and making a crucial reform to public administration,” Mitsotakis said, noting that the introduction of specific targets was being combined with the introduction of procedures that liberate the forces of public administration.
Outlining the key points of the draft bill, he noted that the Senior Council for Staff Selection (ASEP) will be responsible for the initial assessment of candidates, while for hospitals, in particular, there will be a comprehensive proclamation. He said that assessments at each stage be carried out simultaneously by different committee and that all stages will have specific, strict deadlines.
“What is the profile of the candidates? They must have qualifications and work experience that is verifiably relevant to the work and reasonable experience for some time in positions of responsibility. It is time to put a final stop to a practice that existed for many decades, when party cronies were appointed as heads of hospitals without serving the major goal, that of putting the right person in the right position,” Mitsotakis said, adding that it was time to end phenomena of party patronage in the state sector.
The prime minister also referred to “structured tests of skills” that will test whether candidates are up to the task, and also to the interviews that will be given by seven of the 15 top candidates.
“Firstly there will be the so-called ‘on-off’ criteria and for these education and work experience will be taken into account. Apart from these there will be a double system of points by ASEP with the skills tests and the interview,” the premier added, noting that the new heads of public-sector agencies will be required to draw up annual action plans and set targets and will be evaluated on the basis of these each year, when they will either be rewarded with an efficiency bonus or, if they fail to deliver their targets, even removed.
