Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 19th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview Civil Service Author(s) Polonca Kovač University of Ljubljana Ljubljana Slovenia Title Slovenian criteria on top public officials selection: Theory, regulation, implementation and case law 2003-2011 File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract By application of the Civil Servants Act in 2003, Slovenia has established - following the OECD guidelines - an entirely new system for the selection of the highest civil servants, such as directors-general, principals of inspectorates, agencies and other bodies, heads of local administrative units. The system is based on two central elements, namely: a) the conditions, criteria and standards of professional qualification of senior officials, and b) the procedures for testing and evaluating the above criteria. Both elements are defined in depth by the Officials' Council of the Republic of Slovenia within the scope of its statutory powers. The Officials' Council is a non-governmental state body whose task and mission comprise the professional assessment and definition of the criteria for human resource management in public administration, mainly in relation to leading positions at ministries. It makes sure that staffing, particularly at the level of senior management, is not based on political interests but rather on professionalism of the work and management in public administration. The above derives from the values and legal principles enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, which in Article 122 highlights the importance of open competition as a form of employment in (public) administration. In such context, open competition is the expression of the need for finding the best possible candidate for a professionally sound and efficient performance of public tasks and political impartiality of officials. The paper provides a statutory argument, a historical overview, and a critical evaluation of the criteria, standards and procedures defined and implemented by the Officials' Council in the period between 2003 and 2010. Based on a theoretical framework, the authoress critically evaluates the implementation of the procedures for the selection of senior state officials, founding her evaluations and improvement proposals on empirical data obtained in the study of different indicators of professionalism over the past seven years of application of the said standards and procedures. Based thereon, the authoress develops recommendations to improve professional qualification standards. She notes that in terms of experience, knowledge and skills, the existing set of criteria and standards dating as early as 2003 is neither substantively balanced nor in line with contemporary understanding of the work of public administration. In order to ensure a modern public administration, both criteria and procedures of selection need to be developed as well as redefined. Finally, the authoress presents a model involving two sets of balanced and uniform criteria. The first set comprises the three criteria relating to managerial experience and skills. The second set relates to further three criteria concerning expert knowledge of the work of the body which the candidate applies to manage. Generally speaking, the model containing the criteria of professional qualification with a target-oriented procedural regulation of the selection of candidates is an appropriate instrument for developing administrative culture, improving management culture in public administration, and incorporating understanding and practical implementation of the concept of social responsibility into individual bodies and the public administration as a whole. The Slovenian experience can be of great interest for other countries developing its professional public management.
