Filenews 25 March 2023 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
The Ministry of Finance does not even want to discuss the possibility of postponing for a year the reform of the Civil Service. On the occasion of the recent request by the Directors of Government Departments and Services Branch to amend the legislation to grant a one-year extension (to start implementation in January 2025), which Phileleftheros wrote about on Thursday, the Ministry of Finance is informed that it does not consent at this time to a postponement.
The Directors of the Civil Service requested in a letter to the Director-General of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs that the implementation of the legislation be postponed, in order to discuss and address the difficulties which, they claim, arise in relation to aspects of the reform, in connection in particular with the Service Plans for interdepartmental promotion posts, as well as for first appointment and promotion posts.
A competent government source told "F" that the ministry does not agree to postpone the start of the reform until '25. In fact, he indicated that the reform of the State is necessary and should proceed at a rapid pace, for the smooth functioning of the state and the economy. As the Liberal wrote on Thursday, the concerns of the directors of services and departments in the state machine are mainly focused on the positions of the interdepartmental promotion of the A13(ii) scale of the government payroll, aimed at enhancing the mobility of employees between ministries and services.
Based on the reform approved last year by the Parliament (after six years of discussions and additions to the bills), with the implementation of the institution of interdepartmental promotion, employees will be able to claim promotion in any department or ministry, even if the applicants work in another department or ministry.
As the directors of the State argue, with this process the positions will be claimed and possibly occupied by employees who may lack the expertise and in particular the specialization and familiarity with the subject and the requirements of the position.
They consented, but...
The issue of interdepartmental promotions had been the subject of disagreements between PASYDY and the previous Minister of Finance, Konstantinos Petrides. After discussions on discussions, the ministry and PASYDY had come up with a formula through which credits would be applied. Specifically, candidates for appointment to the managerial position A13, through interdepartmental promotion, will initially be evaluated at the examination centres, i.e. they will pass relevant examinations. For candidates who obtain a score of 40% at the test centres, a list will be prepared in order of success in the examinations, with the score of each candidate. The list will be submitted to the Public Service Commission (PSC).
Then, the NHRF will evaluate the required qualifications held by those who have passed the exams, while adding up to 5% to those who have experience in the department or service where the position is vacant, depending on the length of service. At the same time, the NHRF will prepare the final list of successful candidates (40% +0-5 unit examination result for intra-departmental experience). Then, the first three candidates for each position will proceed to the fourth and final step.
On the hot topic of interdepartmental promotions there was a long debate and controversy when the bills were being considered by the competent committee of the House, before which department and service officials tried to persuade MPs to amend the bill. In the end, under the law passed and in force, employees of the Parliament, the Audit Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were excluded from interdepartmental promotion by Parliament, which contributed to an increase in the reactions of officials in other ministries.
IMPORTANT
Democracy committed
So far, no meeting of the affected directors or other executives of the state machine or PASYDY with the leadership of the ministry has been arranged.
It is important to mention that this reform was one of the 14 prerequisites for receiving, through the EU, the first tranche of financial allocation from the Recovery Fund. The Republic complied - albeit belatedly - with regard to those prerequisites, received the tranche and it is a question of how the EU can react if the reform of the Civil Service is ultimately postponed or substantially modified.
