CONFERENCE

CIVIL SERVICE PROFESSIONALISATION

IN THE EUROPEAN EASTERN NEIGHBOURHOOD

PROGRAMME

4-5 November 2014

Tbilisi, Georgia

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1. Background of the conference

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, belonging to the Eastern Partnership, a joint

initiative of the European Union and Eastern European partner countries under the European

Neighbourhood Policy, aim to reform different key policy areas to support their democratic

transformation. Public administration reform is identified as one of the priority areas of the

European Neighbourhood Policy1. Professional civil service, in the focus of this conference, is one of

the cornerstones for implementing public administration reform and for supporting good

governance.

Although the Member States of the EU have wide autonomy regarding the way in which they

organise their civil service, there are common European principles of administrative law and good

administration that should be reflected in national administrative legal frameworks and followed by

all institutions and civil servants2. These principles have formed a baseline of the EU’s and SIGMA’s

technical assistance to the countries in the European neighbourhood on strengthening their

governance systems for over 20 years. These principles have also framed the scope of the recent

comparative study on “Civil Service Professionalisation in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova

and Ukraine”, composed by SIGMA. The main conclusions of the study, regional and country-specific

recommendations for sustainable civil service reforms and priorities of action for civil service

professionalisation will be presented and discussed during the conference.

2. Purpose and format of the conference

The main purpose of the conference is to provide an opportunity for information sharing and

networking for the central civil service bodies of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and

Ukraine.

The central civil service co-ordination and management bodies play a key role in the civil service

reform process since they are normally being responsible for the following functions: developing civil

service policies and legislation; setting and monitoring homogeneous civil service management

standards; participating in and monitoring the recruitment and promotion procedures; maintaining

the human resource management (HRM) information system to support the strategic workforce

planning, management and monitoring of HRM practices in the civil service, and regular analysis of

the state of the civil service; promoting integrity and preventing corruption in the civil service.

The conference will focus on the main challenges of the civil service reforms in the Member States of

the EU, in the accession and pre-accession countries of the EU as well as in the countries in the EU’s

eastern neighbourhood. The interactive format of the conference will provide all participants with

the opportunity to address the most crucial elements of the civil service reforms, compare national

and regional experiences and discuss specific issues among peers and scholars to find sustainable

and tailor-made solutions for each country.

1 European Commission and European External Action Service (27 March 2014), “Implementation of the European

Neighbourhood Policy in 2013. Regional report: Eastern Partnership”, http://eeas.europa.eu/enp/pdf/2014/regional/eastern_partnership_report.pdf. 2 OECD (1999), “European principles for public administration”, SIGMA Paper No. 27,

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/governance/european-principles-for-public-administration_5kml60zwdr7h-en.

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3. Participants of the conference

Participation is by the invitation only.

The conference will be attended by senior officials responsible for designing and implementing civil

service reforms in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine: usually heads of central civil

service bodies and their key staff. From Georgia, as a host country, up to ten officials from the

leading ministries and other administrative bodies in co-charge of civil service reform will be invited.

Representatives of the national Programme Administration Offices, the EU Delegations, the

European Commission and the European External Action Service as well as from the EU Member

States represented in Georgia will be invited.

English and Russian are the active languages of the conference.

Each country will have four official delegates at the conference. Their travel and accommodation

costs will be covered by SIGMA. In total, some 50 participants, including SIGMA staff and experts,

are expected to attend.

4. Agenda for the conference

TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2014

Chaired by Ms. Karen Hill, Head of Programme, SIGMA (Support for Improvement in Governance and Management)

Moderated by Ms. Annika Uudelepp, Chairman of the Executive Board, Praxis Centre for Policy Studies (Independent Think Tank)

09:30 – 10:00 REGISTRATION AND WELCOME COFFEE

10:00 – 10:45 INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME ADDRESSES

Ms. Karen Hill, Head of Programme, SIGMA

Mr. János Herman, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia

Mr. Alex Petriashvili, State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Government of Georgia

Ms. Maya Tskitishvili, Head of the Government’s Administration of Georgia

10:45 – 11:00 COFFEE BREAK

11:00 – 12:30 FIRST SESSION:

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM CHALLENGES IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Dr. Christoph Demmke, Senior Academic Advisor of the Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate, OECD

Presentation

Questions and answers

Joint discussion

Background paper: SIGMA Expert Paper “Civil Service Reform Challenges in the Member States of the European Union”

12:30 – 12:45 FAMILY PHOTO

12:45 – 14:00 LUNCH

14:00 – 15:30 SECOND SESSION:

CIVIL SERVICE PROFESSIONALISATION IN THE EUROPEAN EASTERN NEIGHBOURHOOD COUNTRIES

Dr. Salvador Parrado, Professor of public management at the Spanish Distance Learning University; Visiting Professor at the Hertie School of Governance

Presentation on the main conclusions and recommendations of the comparative study on civil service professionalisation in the European eastern neighbourhood countries

Questions and answers

Joint discussion

Background paper: SIGMA Comparative Study “Civil Service Professionalisation in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine”

15:30 – 16:00 COFFEE BREAK

16:00 – 17:30 THIRD SESSION:

OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF CIVIL SERVICE REFORMS IN THE WESTERN BALKANS, LESSONS LEARNED FOR

THE EASTERN NEIGHBOURHOOD

Dr. Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, Associate Professor of European Politics at the University of Nottingham

Presentation

Questions and answers

Joint discussion

Background paper: SIGMA Paper No. 48 “Civil Service Professionalisation in the Western Balkans”

18:30 – 22:00 DINNER IN MTSKHETA , the capital of the early Georgian Kingdom of Iberia during the 3rd century BC – 5th century AD

Restaurant “GUJARI”

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WEDNESDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2014

Moderated by Dr. Hans-Achim Roll, former Director General in the Federal Chancellery of Germany

09:15 – 9:30 WELCOME COFFEE

9:30 – 12:15 FOURTH SESSION:

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM AGENDAS OF ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE

9:30 – 9:45 Dr. Hans-Achim Roll, SIGMA expert, former Director General in the Federal Chancellery of Germany

Reflections from the first day of the conference

Introduction to the panel session

9:45 – 12:15 Mr. Manvel Badalyan, Chairman of the Civil Service Council of Armenia

Mr. Vugar Asgarov, Head of the Legal Department of the Civil Service Commission under the President of Azerbaijan

Ms. Catherine Kardava, Head of the Civil Service Bureau of Georgia

Ms. Tamara Gheorghita, Head of the Central Public Administration Reform Department of the State Chancellery of the Republic of Moldova

Mr. Kostiantyn Vashchenko, Head of the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service

Civil service reform agendas of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine

Lessons learned from the comparative study on civil service professionalisation in the European eastern neighbourhood countries

Joint discussion

12:15 – 12:45 CONCLUSIONS AND CLOSURE OF THE CONFERENCE

Ms. Karen Hill, Head of Programme, SIGMA

Ms. Catherine Kardava, Head of the Civil Service Bureau of Georgia

Conclusions and closure of the conference

12:45 – 14:00 LUNCH

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Christoph Demmke Dr. Christoph Demmke, a German national, is working as a Senior Academic Advisor of the Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate of the OECD. Beforehand, he acted as Head of Unit in the field of HRM for the OECD and led work on public sector HRM and the Public Employment and Management Working Party (PEM).

For the past decade, Christoph Demmke was a Professor of Comparative Public Management at the European Institute of Public Administration at Maastricht and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (B) and the University of Maastricht. He also taught Comparative Public Administration, HRM and Ethics at several European Universities, national civil service academies and European institutions.

Christoph Demmke was a scientific advisor to the Directors-General of the Member States of the EU with responsibilities for the Reform of the Public Service, and a permanent member of the EUPAN HRM-working group of the rotating EU Presidency.

He has worked as a consultant to various ministries of the EU Member States as well as for the EU Institutions, and as a Fellow of the German Ministry of the Interior.

Christoph Demmke holds Masters' degrees in Political Science and International Relations, and a PhD in Administrative Sciences from the German Postgraduate School of Administrative Sciences. He was an Emile Noel Fellow at Harvard Law School and a Visiting Fellow at American University (USA) and the University of Georgia (USA).

He has published many books and articles on comparative public service reforms, the effects of HR reforms and public service ethics, among others topics.

Salvador Parrado Dr. Salvador Parrado, a Spanish national, is currently teaching in the department of Political Science and Public Administration at the Spanish Distance Learning University (UNED), Madrid. He is also adjunct faculty of Hertie School of Governance, (Berlin). He has published several books and articles on comparative administrative systems, the civil service, the senior civil service, public management and public sector reform.

Commissioned by national public agencies and international organisations like OECD, SIGMA, Inter-American Bank for Development, World Bank and UNDP, he has authored or co-authored numerous policy reports and evidence-based research. His empirical work on the civil service covers the following countries: Azerbaijan, Chile, France, Italy, Moldova, Serbia, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Salvador Parrado holds a PhD in Political Science from the University Complutense Madrid.

At present, he is a European editor of the journal of Public Administration and the Director of Governance International (www.govint.org).

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Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling Dr. Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, a German national, is an Associate Professor of European Politics at the University of Nottingham, School of Politics and International Relations. His research concentrates on the reform of the state in Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.

Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling holds a Master’s degree in European Politics and Policy, and a PhD in Political Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

He currently works on problems surrounding the establishment of professional civil service systems, the contribution of the EU to civil service reform, and the consequences of (a lack) of professional bureaucracies for corruption.

Annika Uudelepp Ms. Annika Uudelepp, an Estonian national, is the CEO of Estonian leading think-tank Praxis Centre for Policy Studies, and expert on modern governance.

Annika Uudelepp previously served as Secretary General of the Ministry of the Environment (2004-2008) and held various posts in Tallinn University.

Annika Uudelepp holds Master’s Degree in Political Science and is currently a PhD Student in Tallinn University.

Her research topics and expertise are related to modern governance: civil service reform, policy co-ordination, public sector strategic management and public engagement in policy making.

Hans-Achim Roll Dr. Hans-Achim Roll, a German national, is a lawyer and international consultant based in Hamburg.

His professional experience includes 6 years as a lecturer and researcher in the Law Faculty of Kiel University (1972-1978), 14 years in various leading positions in the administration of the German Parliament (1978-1992), 6 years as Director General in the Office of the German Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl (1992-1998), and 15 years as short term consultant for policy development, constitutional and public administration reform, civil service, minority inclusion in the public sector, and other reform projects in transition countries (1999-2014). These projects include work in: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Egypt, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine.

Hans-Achim Roll studied law in the Universities of Marburg, Kiel (Germany), and Lausanne (Switzerland). He holds a law degree (Dr. Juris) of Kiel University.

PARTICIPANTS LIST

ARMENIA

Mr. Manvel Badalyan

Chairman

Civil Service Council of the Republic of

Armenia

Mr. Gegham Sargsyan

Head

Science and Education Department

Civil Service Council of the Republic of

Armenia

Ms. Ruzanna Khachatryan

Head

External Relations Department

Civil Service Council of the Republic of

Armenia

Mr. Garush Davtyan

Head

Legal Department

Civil Service Council of the Republic of

Armenia

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AZERBAIJAN

Mr Vugar Asgarov

Head

Legal Department

Civil Service Commission under the President of the

Republic of Azerbaijan

Mr Azad Aydinli

Chief Advisor

Human Resources and Training Department

State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations

under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Ms Firuza Poladova

Department of Human Resources

The Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Ms Afag Huseyn

Director of Human Resources Management and Civil

Service HR Recruitement Department

Civil Service Commission under the President of the

Republic of Azerbaijan

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GEORGIA

Mr. Alex Petriashvili

State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic

Integration

Ms. Maia Tskitishvili

Head

Administration of the Government of Georgia

Mr. Georgi Kakhiani

Chairman of the Procedural Issues and Rules Committee at

the Parliament of Georgia

Administration of the Government of Georgia

Ms. Catherine Kadrava

Director

Civil Service Bureau of Georgia

Ms. Mariam Turmanidze

Assistant to the Director Civil Service Bureau of Georgia

Mr. Alexandre Baramidze

Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia

Ms. Rusudan Mikhelidze

Head of Analytical Department

Ministry of Justice of Georgia

Mr. Giorgi Javakhishvili

Deputy Minister of Finance of Georgia

Mr. Roman Kakulia

Head

EU Assistance Coordination Department

Office of the State Minister of Georgia on European and

Euro-Atlantic Integration

Ms. Nino Mujiri

Project Expert

Office of the State Ministry of Georgia on European and

Euro-Atlantic Integration

Mr. Giorgi Kldiashvili

Director

Institute for Development of Freedom of Information

Ms. Mary Gabashvili

Manager

NATO-Georgia Professional Development Programme

Ms. Tekla Rurua

Intern, Civil Service Reform

NATO-Georgia Professional Development Programme

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MOLDOVA

Ms. Tamara Gheorghita

Head

Central Public Administration Reform

Department

State Chancellery

Ms. Nina Manoulache

Head

Human Resources Division

Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and

Family

Ms. Natalia Graur

Head

Human Resources Division

Ministry of Justice

Mr. Andrei Prisacari

Head

Public Authorities Finances Division

Ministry of Finance

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UKRAINE

Mr. Volodymyr Fedorchuk

Deputy Minister

Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

Mr. Kostiantyn Vashchenko

Head

National Agency of Ukraine on Civil

Service

Mr. Oleksii Perevezentsev

Head of Legal Department

Ministry of Economic Development and

Trade

Ms. Valentyna Nehiievych

Assistant to the Head

National Agency of Ukraine on Civil

Service

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EU DELEGATIONS

Mr. János Herman

Head of the Delegation of the European Union

to Georgia

Ms. Nino Kochishvili

Programme Manager

Delegation of the European Union to Georgia

Ms. Sophie Huet Guerriche

Programme Manager

Delegation of the European Union to Georgia

Mr. Alessandro Zanotta

Economic Adviser

Cooperation Section

Delegation of the European Union to Armenia

Mr. Volodymyr Kondrachuk

Sector Manager "Public Administration Reform" Twinning, SIGMA, CIB Coordinator Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine

EU MEMBER STATES

H.E. Mr. Plamen Bonchev

Ambassador of Bulgaria to Georgia

Mr. Iassen Tomov

Second Secretary

Embassy of Bulgaria to Georgia

H.E. Mr. Andrzej Cieszkowski

Ambassador of Poland to Georgia

H.E. Mr. Priit Turk

Ambassador of Estonia to Georgia

H.E. Mr. Sándor Szabó

Ambassador of Hungary to Georgia

Mr. István Gyebnár

Deputy to the Ambassador Ambassador of Hungary to Georgia

Ms. Helena Sancho

First Secretary

Embassy of Sweden to Georgia

Mr. Kakha Khimshiashvili

Programme Manager

Embassy of Sweden to Georgia

Mr. Antti Karttunen

Resident Twinning Adviser “Capacity Builting of

the Academy of the Ministry of Finance of

Georgia”

Finland

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EXPERTS/MODERATORS

Mr. Christoph Demmke

Senior Academic Advisor of the Public

Governance and Territorial Development

Directorate/OECD

Mr. Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling

Associate Professor of European Politics

University of Nottingham

Mr. Salvador Parrado

Professor of Public Management

Spanish Distance Learning University, Madrid

Visiting Professor

Hertie School of Governance, Berlin

Mr. Hans-Achim Roll

International Consultant

Former Director General in the Federal

Chancellery of Germany

Ms. Annika Uudelepp

Chairman of the Executive Board

Praxis Centre for Policy Studies

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SIGMA

Ms. Karen Hill Head of Programme

Ms. Airi Alakivi Senior Adviser Civil service and public administration

organisation and functioning

Mr. Julio Nabais Senior Adviser Civil service and public administration

organisation and functioning

Mr. Xavier Sisternas Senior Adviser Civil service and public administration

organisation and functioning

Mr. Wojciech Zielinski Senior Adviser Civil service and public administration

organisation and functioning

Ms. Ilana Demal Project Co-ordinator

Ms. Aleksandra Bogusz Project Co-ordinator