On Wednesday 25 October, the European Commission adopted a new Communication on Enhancing the European Administrative Space (ComPAct), containing concrete actions to help public administrations meet the needs of citizens and businesses across Europe.
ComPAct is the Commission’s first-ever comprehensive set of actions to support the modernisation of public administrations across the EU and to strengthen their cross-border cooperation so that they can address common challenges together.
Elisa Ferreira, Commissioner for Reforms, stated that this programme aimed to “strengthen the potential of public administration, which represents almost a quarter of the workforce” in the EU.
She acknowledged that “in quite a few countries, it has been difficult to maintain the level of training of public servants or to continue to develop their services for financial reasons”. Therefore, the Commission is trying to help train these public administrations through an exchange of experience. “We’ve already carried out a pilot phase, which was a real success, and that’s why we’re now extending this exercise to the various Member States”, explained the Commissioner.
The Communication proposes 25 actions aimed at:
- fostering cooperation between public administrations to prepare them for current and future challenges (Pillar 1): Public Administration Cooperation Exchange (PACE), setting up a network of centres of excellence, setting up a European training programme for leadership in public administration. Ms Ferreira praised the popularity of PACE. “You could compare it to Erasmus, in the sense that we help civil servants to go to another country, for 3 days or up to 3 months, to work within another public administration and understand what other methods could be applied”;
- strengthening the capacity of public administrations for their digital transformation (Pillar 2): support for the implementation of digital and data legislation and AI technologies, support for the provision of e-government services;
- strengthening the capacity of public administrations to play a leading role in the ecological transition (Pillar 3): support for updating national strategies and plans for adapting to climate change, promoting the consideration of climate issues and other relevant environmental guidelines, promoting tools and methods for assessing and preventing climate risks.
Actions will be implemented through the Technical Support Instrument (flagship initiatives or multi-country projects) or other EU funding mechanisms, such as the Digital Europe programme or Horizon Europe.
The adoption of actions is voluntary and demand-driven. Member States can participate in ComPAct at their own pace and according to their needs and institutional structures.
Link to the communication: https://aeur.eu/f/98u (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)