Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 27th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview WG3: Public Administration Reform in CEE and CA Author(s) Marton Gellen Ludovika University of Public Service Budapest Hungary Title The Story of a Decade of Centralisation in Hungary. Framing the Current Public Administration and Public Policy Development Path File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Marton Gellen Abstract It has been almost a decade that the Hungarian Government started its massive centralization efforts in order to partly remedy de facto insolvency that led to entering into a standby loan agreement with the IMF in 2008. Since than centralization has become an overall fiscal tool for controlling expenditures but furthermore, it became a policy and a public administration development path as well. Centralization affected the tasks of local governments (county and municipal), sectoral public administration organs. Centralization affected public services such as the primary and secondary education system, public health system furthermore, public utility companies such as gas supply and communal waste management. Certain strategic industries have undergone the elevation of the level of state ownership such as finance or energy sectors. On the other hand, certain emblematic failures have also to be mentioned such as the collapse of the Hungarian Airlines Co. (MALÉV) or losing – sometimes winning – certain important cases at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) or at the Luxembourg Court of Justice. What can be concluded or projected for the future based on the Hungarian experience? What is the price and what are the gains of such a vast restructuring? The article makes an attempt to summarize and evaluate a wide variety of developments using a well-structured logical framework.
