Representatives of the state administration planned new employment in this election year, despite austerity measures and warnings from international institutions that the state apparatus is bulky and that fewer officials are necessary to reduce public spending. There were no dismissals of the unscrupulous and those who are just a nuisance in the state administration, which was announced by the Government.
President-elect Milo Đukanović, from the position of prime minister, assessed three years ago that "a large number of people employed in the public sector come to work only to be a nuisance", saying that such people should stay at home, not occupy offices and free up space for rewards those who deserve it.
The Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Pažin said at the Government session in Kolašin on April 19, 2016 that "it is necessary to improve the employment of capable people and fire those who work unscrupulously in the administration". Pažin's cabinet and the Government Bureau for Public Relations did not answer the questions of "Vijesti" as to how many unscrupulous officials have been found so far and in which departments, when and how many of them will be fired. They did not answer why additional employment is planned.
According to the personnel plan of the Government, which was adopted on April 19, 704 more employees and 33 interns are planned to be employed in the state administration this year.
According to the latest official data, there are 39.306 employees in the state administration, while there are 12.174 at the local level.
What do they say in the Ministry?
The Ministry of Public Administration, headed by Suzana Pribilović, does not have data on the number of dismissed civil servants.
According to the data of the Central Personnel Records, which the Human Resources Administration provided to "Vijesti", in 2017 there was only one decision on the termination of the employment relationship upon dismissal by the employer, and that was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2016, there were no decisions on dismissal.
The Ministry of Public Administration explains that although the new personnel plan deals with the planning of new employment, it does not mean that so many officials will be employed.
"In accordance with the employment obligations in the part of administrative capacities arising from the program of accession of Montenegro to the EU, the state administration bodies must plan new employment in 2018", said the Ministry, answering the question of "Vijesti" why more employees are being hired when the administration is cumbersome and the recommendations of all relevant international institutions are to reduce the number of employees in the state administration.
The personnel plan, as they said, provides an overview of the situation in terms of the number of employees in the state administration bodies, but also the needs of the bodies for employment, which does not mean that this plan will be fully implemented.
"It includes both public and internal ads, which means that one part will be filled by employees from the system. Certainly, in the context of the process of optimizing the number of employees, it is very useful for us in order to see as realistically as possible the possibilities for the mobility of existing personnel and additional employment in order to increase the efficiency of public administration. It should be borne in mind that this is a plan for the needs of the authorities, and its implementation will depend on several factors, first of all, financial possibilities, and especially the optimization process", the Ministry announced.
Milena Milošević from the Institute of Alternatives assessed that it is crucial to see explanations of the need for new employment, and she also reminded of the Government's plan to have almost 2.000 fewer employees by 2020.
"This includes not only the state administration and government services, for which the personnel plan was adopted, but also other state bodies and the so-called regulatory bodies. This means that all new employment in certain ministries or services means that the number of employees in other places will additionally have to be reduced. It is true that certain bodies, such as, for example, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, lack employees, while on the other hand, we have too many, say in the police," said Milošević.
She pointed out that the personnel plan for last year was not even adopted, and when they were adopted, they were significantly "late", which is also the case with the current one.
"That's why these plans are not used as an authentic tool for managing human resources, but as another legal obligation, which is sometimes half-heartedly fulfilled, like many others," Milošević said.
The Law on Civil Servants and State Employees prescribes that the personnel plan of the Government for the calendar year is adopted within 30 days from the date of adoption of the Budget Law for that year. When asked why this year's personnel plan is late, the Ministry of Public Administration replied that certain authorities were not able to submit individual plans within the legal deadline because they were in the process of adopting or amending the Rulebook on Internal Organization and Systematization.
EC warning
In a new report for Montenegro, the European Commission stated that a strong political will is still needed for more efficient depoliticization of the public sector and optimization of state administration, as well as to ensure the effective implementation and financial sustainability of reforms.
"A significant optimization of human resources was launched at the end of 2017 in state and local administration, which should reduce staffing needs by five percent (at the national level) by 2020, but also deal with the need for additional capacities in connection with European integration . The central personnel register is regularly updated, but is not yet connected to the payroll system," the report states.
It is added that due to the reorganization after the 2016 elections, the implementation of the public administration reform action plan 2016-2018 was postponed, especially with regard to the optimization of public administration, which will now begin in 2018.In 2017, there were 455 decisions on termination of employment
According to data from the Central Personnel Records, in 2017, a total of 455 civil servants were left without a job, by force of law, based on agreements and the like. Out of that number, the most were 106 agreements on termination of employment, and 92 on termination of employment due to the transfer of an employee to a newly opened state body. In 2016, there were 415 decisions on termination of employment, of which 139 were the most based on agreements.
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