CESI’s political leaders present in the meeting, President Romain Wolff, Secretary General Klaus Heeger and Andreas Hemsing (dbb), Vice-President of the Expert Commission, first took a moment to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and to send their thoughts of peace, safety and solidarity to the Ukrainian citizens and government. The importance of public administration services in a smooth reception of refugees from Ukraine was also highlighted.

The meeting proceeded with an overview of main European priorities of 2022 in the field of public administration, which, according to the Expert Commission, include interoperabiltiy and digitalisation, the involvement and role of administration in the green-digital twin transitions, and investments for quality public service delivery – which also includes measures for a well-functioning staff recruitment and retention.

Maximilian Strotmann, European Commission, introduced the forthcoming legally binding proposal for a EU government interoperability strategy.

Julija Skerniškytė, Visionary Analytics, presented the final results of CESI’s research on digital transitions in public sector service delivery. Andreas Hemsing said: ‘The presentation offered a rich perspective on the digitalization of the public administration and we look forward to read more carefully the CESI research and to see how it can be useful for our members, the practitioners.’

Mina Shoylekova, European Commission, outlined the work of the European Commission services in the area of public administration and mentioned in this context in particular the support measures set out in its recent report ‘Supporting public administrations in EU Member States to deliver reforms and prepare for the future’ as well as continuous coordination with public administrations in the context of a dedicated advisory expert group on public administration governance. Her presentation was complemented by an assessment of the quality of the provision of public service delivery at national and EU levels which highlighted important workforce trends, limitations but also opportunities.

Romain Wolff, President of CESI, presented the latest news from the European Commission’s advisory Platform for Tax Good Governance, where CESI is a long-standing member.

Klaus Heeger emphasised: ‘There is high political interest for investments in public services after the pandemic. We should use this momentum to seize a stronger EU public sector agenda’.

The next meeting of the Expert Commission is scheduled to take place on May 31.