The central public administration and the local public administration have many competent professionals, but the current human resources system in the Republic of Moldova has a lot of space for improvement and requires profound reforms. But the quality of human resources principally influences the progress of the accession negotiations and the advancement of the Republic of Moldova on the path of integration into the European Union. How to reach the situation where the state has a body of professional and well-paid officials, who will help the whole country to advance on the European path, was among the issues discussed by the experts invited to IPN’s public debate “Human resources crisis and salary system within Central Public Administration and Local Public Administration. Research”. In the debate, the study with the same name, which was recently conducted by the Institute for Strategic Initiatives, was also discussed.
Vlad Kulminski, executive director of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives, said that this study is extremely relevant for Moldova today, in the context of the accession to the European Union, but also in the context of efficient state administration. “The main task of this study was to rather highlight the areas where the Government needs help. The task was specifically to assist the Government in carrying out the difficult tasks it has to perform,” noted Vlad Kulminski.
According to him, it is absolutely clear that the European integration will be the primary task for Moldova the coming years,. It is also clear that the EU accession negotiations covering at least 35 chapters are a complex task. Thirty-three of these chapters are quite technical and important. “Currently, there are practically three institutions dealing with the EU accession negotiations. But in order to successfully and quickly follow this path of accession and negotiations, we need a professional, sufficient and well-paid body of civil servants who will be able to push the Republic of Moldova up on this path of European integration,” said the executive director of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives.
Vlad Kulminski argues that the state must have a body of well-paid professional officials to help the entire country advance on the path of European integration. Remuneration is only one area and not the most important one. But the pays in the public service cannot be tackled without a deeper and more serious analysis of the overall public administration reform.
Diana Chiriac, adviser to the Prime Minister on Local Public Administration, said that the Public Administration Reform Strategy is complex and is not centered on particular very narrow segments, as were other previously designed strategies. One of the five pillars of the Strategy refers to public administration employees. Many steps have been taken to increase the number of people engaged in local and central public administration.
“A number of instruments have been prepared and developed for the local public authorities, for the public post to become an attractive one, for the number of employees in local and central public administrations to increase. Yes, indeed, in 2021-2022 we experienced a shortage of staff within the central public administrations. And the situation was even worse during the pandemic, when there was no person who could work for the local public authorities. There were cases when only the guard or one person worked and could manage all the processes required at a mayor’s office. It was quite a serious situation and, after the pandemic, somehow everyone understood the need to concentrate all efforts, especially in a combined way, to increase capacities and interest in the public post, no matter for what authorities you work, either local or central,” stated Diana Chiriac.
In her opinion, no distinction should be made between the local public authorities and the central public authorities because they are all civil servants working for the benefit of the state and for the citizens of this country. “Everyone wants and must deliver services as close as possible to the citizens and ensure that these citizens have a better life and have the support they expect from the civil servants for whom they pay taxes,” said the adviser.
She also said that the voluntary amalgamation is one of the latest instruments for increasing local authorities’ capacities. The intercommunity development associations are another instrument that is widely used in the European Union. IDAs are already registered in the Republic of Moldova because the local public authorities of the first and second levels can form such associations and strengthen their capacities, increase their own revenues and provide services for locals.
Elena Levinta, consultant on civil service management policy at the State Chancellery of the Government, said that the situation is not simple, but systemic. Difficulties in attracting professional employees are also faced by the private sector, not only by the public one. “I will provide some figures about the central public administration. At present, according to the latest accumulated data, we have around 19,000 civil servants with general status. There are approximately as many servants with special status. About 20% of positions are vacant, I would say – chronically vacant, which means that no matter how much effort is made, through different forms of occupation, it is very difficult to attract people to fill the vacant positions,” said the consultant.
According to her, it goes both to the quantity and quality of human resources. And it is important that these two elements should be separated. “When we talk about quantity, we talk about personnel needs. The challenges are great. The civil servants, especially those in ministries, over the next two years will need to develop, adjust over 1,300 normative documents to the acquis of the European Union. It is a very big effort, which also requires well-trained human resources and effort made during overtime hours, various skills. What the civil servants are doing now and will yet have to do, they haven’t done before. This means new knowledge, new skills, but also particular qualities, attitudes and professional skills,” noted Elena Levinta.
Thus, says the consultant, the chronically vacant positions within the central public administration stand at around 20% only at the level of ministries. At the level of Government agencies, they constitute about 25%. There is a lack of interest, including in public management positions, and there is a small number of applicants as a result. “It goes to the lack of attractiveness or maybe to the too great responsibility that is borne by the civil servant because the challenges are great, the tasks are great. The pace of work is no longer what it used to be. Expectations are high and speed is very important here. We don’t have many years to produce certain positive changes. A fast pace is needed. And there is a need for trained people. We are thinking about changing the paradigm of the recruitment process. We will not find sufficiently trained people and I think this is already the conclusion of several years. We will focus on people who have capacities to learn quickly, who are flexible, who are oriented and open to change,” said the official of the State Chancellery.
“In parallel, we will invest a lot in developing the professional capacities of civil servants involved in these processes related to the development of public policies in the field of alignment with the acquis of the European Union. And last but not least, we will not forget about the officials who are going to implement these policies as the civil servants from the central public authorities are implementers of policies, while the local ones have direct contact with the citizen. And it is important to invest considerably here too because a lot will depend on the quality of their work, their performance, their responsiveness, the accessibility of services,” stated Elena Levinta.
The public debate entitled “Human resources crisis and salary system within Central Public Administration and Local Public Administration. Research” was staged within the initiative “Socially responsible management of external financing” of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives, in partnership with the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup”, with the support of Soros Foundation Moldova.The public debate entitled “Human resources crisis and salary system within Central Public Administration and Local Public Administration. Research” was staged within the initiative “Socially responsible management of external financing” of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives, in partnership with the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup”, with the support of Soros Foundation Moldova.