DRAFT MINUTES. EUPAN DIRECTORS GENERAL TROIKA MEETING 20 May 2010, Madrid, Spain

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1 SECRETARÍA DE ESTADO PARA LA FUNCION PUBLICA DRAFT MINUTES EUPAN DIRECTORS GENERAL TROIKA MEETING 20 May 2010, Madrid, Spain Representatives from the Troika States and EC: From the Presidency: - Mª Luisa Carcedo, Chairperson National Agency for the Evaluation of Public Policies and Quality of Services (AEVAL) - Isabel Hernández, Deputy Director General of Relations with other Administrations - Carlos Marcos, Deputy Director General of Coordination and Studies - Emilio García, Technical of Coordination and Studies - Emilio Viciana, Head of Sector of Relations with other Administrations - Consuelo Hidalgo, Head of Division of Quality, AEVAL - Ana Corces, Head of Department for Planning and Institutional Relationships, AEVAL - Joaquín Ruiz, Head of Department for Quality of Services, AEVAL - Eloísa del Pino, Head of Division of the Observatory of Quality of Services, AEVAL - José Manuel Díaz, Head of Division, AEVAL - Marek Szczypek, European Official - Ariana Martínez, Technical From Sweden: - Karl Pfeifer, Deputy Director General - Petter Kockum, Analyst - Per Stengard, Senior Adviser From Belgium: - Jacques Druart, Adviser From the European Commission: - Daniel Jacob, Deputy Director General, European Commision (DG HR) - Daniele Dotto, Head of Unit DG HR D4 - Madalina Gligor, Policy Officer DG HR D4 From EIPA: - Marga Pröhl, Director General MARÍA DE MOLINA, MADRID

2 JOINT SESSION 1. - Welcome to all members Apologies were offered for the absence of the Director General of the Civil Service, and it was explained that no representative could attend for Hungary as the country is in the middle of elections Approval of the Agenda of the meeting 3. - Human Resources Working Group: a. - Impact of the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty as regards the administrative cooperation among Member States and the future of EUPAN It was noted that in the period designated for comments on the draft, with a deadline on May 20, no comments have yet been received. We intend to finalise the document from a practical point of view during the Spanish Presidency, so that the Belgian presidency may proceed to a practical analysis. The commission pointed out that Article 197 of the Lisbon Treaty does not affect EUPAN s role as a participating informal network, although it does provide a legal basis for an administrative cooperation which is already manifesting itself in different spheres. Belgium requested a clarification on whether the common position from EUPAN corresponds to the document interpreting administrative cooperation, and questioned the idea that Belgium should develop the idea of a Task Force on the matter without having offered to assume this responsibility, and without the creation of said Task Force being submitted for the approval of the DGs. In this sense, the commission feels that the meeting of DGs should decide whether or not to continue work in this area. In response to the Belgian questions, the Spanish Presidency confirmed that the final document to be debated in the meeting of DGs in June will be the one approved by common agreement (once the contributions from all States have been included). Similarly, it was clarified that the actions to be carried out by the Belgian Presidency must be decided by that Presidency. Thus, the Spanish Presidency wishes to finalise the theoretical stage of the document during Spain s term, and then to allow the next government to choose whether or not it will continue work. Sweden voiced its support for creating a Task Force to continue work and for allowing the Troika to participate in the decision to continue or not. The Commission offered to remit a text clarifying its interpretation of administrative cooperation in light of Article 197, through this text would be of an informal nature. 2

3 Finally, the Spanish Presidency proposed including in the resolution which will be submitted during the meeting for the DGs approval, the possibility of continuing this topic during the Belgian Presidency. b. - EUPAN Website The situation was explained as it stood following the last meeting of the Secretaries of the Troika. EIPA, one of the affected parties, was asked to express its position. EIPA explained that after speaking with France, it believes that France s investment in web design could be reallocated in such a way that a smaller amount would go to design and the remainder might be used for the first maintenance phase. Said phase could in principle take one year, with one person working part time. Subsequently, each Presidency would have to assume responsibility for updating changes. EIPA insisted that the responsibility for content would at that point belong exclusively to States. The Troika expressed its support for this proposal, at the same time suggesting that each Presidency define clearly who is responsible for working with EIPA on the web page, and the draft of the resolution by the DGs includes a suggestion to start a web page to this end. c. - Other matters Lastly, it was noted that in the meeting of DGs, Professor Salvador Parrado will present the preliminary results of a study on sustainability in Public Administrations, a study which to date was lacking a response from Germany and Slovakia. Similarly, a study will be presented regarding public employment in the EU Social Dialogue: The Spanish Presidency proposed a technical meeting of States on June 15, as there was no plenary technical meeting previous to the meeting of DGs on this matter. This meeting would have a double objective: to explain the application of the Stockholm Resolution in the sphere of informal dialogue with the goal of reaching an agreement about rules of procedure (area in which the Unions do not appear interested in participating) and to explain the process of formalisation (this topic should be discussed only in the presence of States). Likewise, the Presidency noted tentative plans for a meeting on social dialogue in Brussels in June 24, Belgium and Sweden expressed their disapproval of the absence of Unions in the 15 th June meeting and the exclusion of the debate on the role of social agents in the economic crisis. To that end, they proposed maintaining the rules of procedure which were used in the test stage. The Spanish Presidency promised to study the situation. 3

4 5. - E-Government Group: a. - Modifications in the WP for egov The Spanish Presidency acknowledged changes made by Hungary in the WP for egov and the new text was approved following debate. b. - The Future egovernment Working Group The Spanish Presidency presented its proposal for the future creation of a group which it hoped would receive support from the Troika. The Presidency announced that without support from the Troika, it would return to its initial position as expressed in the meeting of Troika Secretaries, that is, not to contribute more to the debate than the analysis of the positions expressed by Member States in the survey. The Spanish Presidency understands that to define a final position on the matter would require more debate in the work groups, unless the Troika reached a unanimous agreement. The proposal was designated a Centre of Excellence by the Presidency. EUPAN would use this centre if it had any need for expert consultation. The option of a Working Group is thus open for any Presidencies who wish to choose this course of action. The Commission voiced its informal approval, pending an official position after the meeting of DGs. Belgium expressed reservations regarding a permanent structure, given the possibility of a Learning Team, which has a predetermined time and objective and includes only the participation of interested States. The Spanish Presidency explained that because the clause of converting the Working Group in to a Learning Team had never applied (as attendance has not always been below 50%), another solution has been sought involving the CIO Network which the Commission is establishing. Spain indicated additionally that an LT requires a more detailed proposal and that its impermanence is contrary to Member States wishes (without a deadline) to maintain egovernment activities in EUPAN. Sweden and Belgium requested to delay their response a few days in order to study the proposal more carefully. Thus, it was agreed that a week-long period would be designated for receiving comments and thus deciding whether or not to submit the proposal as a Troika proposal. The written responses do not show unanimity within the Troika, such that the debate on egovernment activities in EUPAN will likely continue in subsequent meetings of work groups during future Presidencies. c. - Study on Legal Frameworks and Citizens Bills of Rights in Electronic Administration within the EU Professor José Vida presented the initial results of a study carried out in order to understand the situation of citizens rights in the area of electronic Administration from a 4

5 comparative perspective within the EU. Final results will be presented at the meeting of DGs in June IPSG: The Chairperson of the Agency for Evaluation and Quality (AEVAL) joined the meeting. a. - Quality management Information was offered on activities carried out for the promotion of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and the final document of its adaptation to the area of Education was presented for approval. The final approval of this document is slated for the next meeting of DGs. b. - Evaluation of public administrations' added value to the Lisbon strategy goals The finalisation of the report on the Evaluation of public administrations' added value to the Lisbon strategy goals was announced. The final version of the document will likewise be presented in the meeting of Directors General. c. - Customer Satisfaction Management The Spanish Presidency spoke about the results of the assessment of the Learning Team on Customer Satisfaction Management at the end of its mandate, having demostrated the accomplishment of its objectives. Mention was also made of the discussion between Member States regarding priority activities in this sphere and about possible formulas for continuing this activity within IPSG. As a result of this discussion, the creation of a new Learning Team was proposed in order to study the transformation of citizen perception data into reforms of public policies and services and develop therefore possible indicators. It was agreed to create a new Learning Team, whose mandate will be to produce guidelines for the Member States on that topic. The Learning Team will choose a coordinating person among its participants and Belgium assumes the meetings organization in Brussels. d. - Study on measurement and management of sustainability in Public Administration Professor Salvador Parrado made a presentation on the preliminary results of the study on measurement and management of sustainability in Public Administration. As a result of this study, three alternatives were proposed for future activities related to sustainability, from using international frameworks for reporting on sustainability to creating new, additional frameworks with specific indicators for public administrations, as well as the final possibility of including additional elements on sustainability in the foreseen revision of CAF model. Belgium requested clarifications of the difference between proposal 1 and 3. It was explained that the differences exist in application scope, given that the scope of proposal 3 is more reduced, specific and adapted to public administrations. Belgium likewise asked if 5

6 the use of the framework for measurement proposed as a 3 rd option must be linked to CAF. It was explained that previous use of CAF is not required, but both may be integrated. The EIPA representative expressed doubts regarding the convenience of carrying out actions outside of CAF in the area of sustainability. She proposed that the study s results may be used by CAF expert group for the revision of the Model. Professor Parrado spoke of the necessity of an additional tool that could be used in the sphere of Administration, even by countries outside of the EUPAN network, and which allows for an harmonisation of sustainability measurements Draft of the Agenda for the Meeting of DGs: The Spanish Presidency presented the draft of the resolution that it is working on in order for it to be approved by the DGs in June. Sweden suggested placing more emphasis on future goals and EIPA proposed including Professor Demmke s study within the resolution. The study will be presented in Maastricht within the framework of a seminar whose attendees will include, among others, representatives of the Spanish Presidency and other EUPAN members. Belgium noted that the draft text of the Resolution appears to force the DGs position in favour of a concrete proposal derived from the study on measurement and management of sustainability in Public Administration. It was agreed to revise the text of the Resolution and send a new draft shortly. Lastly, Belgium and Sweden reiterated their invitation to TUNED to participate in the Social Dialogue meeting on June 15. September 1,