Republic of Montenegro: Public Expenditure and ... - Vlada Crne Gore

Chapter 3: Public Administration Reform 43
• Provide technical support and staffing to the Chairman of the Committee, as needed to
coordinate activities.
B. CREATING THE STRUCTURES AND INCENTIVES FOR PERFORMANCE
3.11 The 2003 PAR strategy recognized that to create a more effective public
administration, Montenegro would need structures and policies to attract, retain, and
motivate high skilled personnel. The government has taken some initial steps in this direction
but substantial work remains to be done. Macro fiscal pressures, as well as limited capacity
within key bodies, are two factors that have had some impact on the pace of reform. However,
they do not explain the full story. There have also been policy decisions not to pursue reform as
aggressively as may have been possible. Some pay practices and tendencies from the former
communist era still persist. Going forward the government will have opportunities to re-orient
the pay and promotions systems further towards skills, responsibility, and performance. In
particular, restructuring is needed in how base salaries and allowances are awarded for different
categories of employees.
Creation of a Professional Civil Service
3.12 The main achievement in civil service reform has been the establishment of a
distinct civil service cadre, with a defined career path and whose recruitment is based on
merit. With adoption of the Law on Civil Servants and Employees, the government brought
Montenegro a step closer to European standards of public administration. First, the distinction
was made in employment regime between civil servants, who carry out state administration
activities, and employees, who discharge only auxiliary functions. 47 Second, the Law requires
open competition to be the default method for recruitment, including for top level positions – an
important condition for reducing politicization and enhancing professionalism. This prompts the
need for strengthening the CSA as a central agency to oversee the competition process which
still may be susceptible to inappropriate subjectivity, but it is important that the principle has
been established. Third, the law introduces a new classification structure civil servants and
employees, including a clear career advancement system based on work experience and
performance assessment. Introduction of the new civil service classification structure, required
all ministries/agencies to adopt new staffing plans (systematization Acts) based on a new ranking
system. Only the Ministries of Interior and Economy had failed to complete their new
systemization as of February 2006.
3.13 The longer term strategic management of the civil service has to be supported by
adequate information systems, which are not yet in place. One of the primary tasks of the
civil service administration has been to create a human resource data base to track all public
employees and civil servants. That activity has been delayed due to funding shortfalls and the
lack of technical assistance. Only in recent months has the tender been issued for the
development of such a system. Ultimately, the system is to be used to keep track of performance
evaluations, training, and other career related information. However, currently, it is difficult to
47 The intention was that the civil servants would enjoy more secure employment conditions, whereas employees
would be subject to general labor code conditions, enabling greater flexibility in staffing. In practice this distinction
in employment security has not been realized. Through the collective bargaining process, public employees were
granted many of the same guarantees as civil servants.