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Greece

Open invitations for filling posts in the public sector (GR0021)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Greece Second Action Plan for 2014-2016

Action Plan Cycle: 2014

Status: Inactive

Institutions

Lead Institution: Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction

Support Institution(s): NA

Policy Areas

E-Government, Labor, Legislation & Regulation

IRM Review

IRM Report: Greece End-of-Term Report 2014-2016

Starred: No

Early Results: Did Not Change

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Public Accountability

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion:

Description

Introduction of an open system in the selection of executives serving for a fixed period of time in positions of responsibility in the public sector. This system will replace the current process of appointments to positions of increased responsibility. The system will include interventions in the following areas:
1.Institutional level: Establishment of an open selection process for executives. The process will define the minimum required qualifications and all the information regarding the selections will be publicly available.
2. Operational level:
- Proposal for an integrated process, including the selection of members of the Selection Committee, the publication of the call for interest in www.opengov.gr and the publicity of selection practices.
Draft law proposal.
3. Technical level:
- Collection and publication of data to the executive job market, as well as the internal job market. It will record all vacancies, the expiration date of the filled posts, the requirements of the post and the supervising entity.
- Extension of the Census database application

IRM End of Term Status Summary

Commitment 3.1. Open public sector job posts

Commitment Text:

Introduction of an open system in the selection of executives serving for a fixed period of time in positions of responsibility in the public sector. This system will replace the current process of appointments to positions of increased responsibility. The system will include interventions in the following areas:

•       Institutional level: Establishment of an open selection process for executives. The process will define the minimum required qualifications and all the information regarding the selections will be publicly available.

•       Operational level: - Proposal for an integrated process, including the selection of members of the Selection Committee, the publication of the call for interest in www.opengov.gr and the publicity of selection practices. Draft law proposal.

•       Technical level: - Collection and publication of data to the executive job market, as well as the internal job market. It will record all vacancies, the expiration date of the filled posts, the requirements of the post and the supervising entity.

o   Extension of the Census database application

Milestones –Timescales

•       3.1.1 Regulatory interventions: Completion by the end of March 2015

•       3.1.2 Operational and technical changes: gradually until end of September 2015. A plan to implement changes will be drafted by the end of 2014, in order to gradually introduce the new system.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date:     July 2014          End date: September 2015

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aims to tackle deficiencies in public sector recruitment by establishing reforms to increase transparency and prevent favouritism in public appointments. A transparent and meritocratic system for selecting qualified candidates for high-level public sector jobs is an important accountability policy issue in Greece. As of October 2009, the www.opengov.gr website operates on an ad hoc basis when publishing public appointments of high-ranking positions (e.g. managers, board of directors members, directors of public entities, and some consultant positions). However, this operation is neither mandatory nor institutionally enforced. Therefore, all open recruitment calls on the opengov.gr website and the selection process itself depend on the political will of the relevant minister or authority. To overcome this voluntary operation, the government planned to introduce a legally binding open system for selecting executives, implement operational changes regarding the selection process and technical changes regarding advertising each position.

Status

Midterm: Not started

Greece had not begun implementation by the midterm review and open calls still operated in a limited and unpredictable fashion. The government only published a small subset of high-ranking positions with open calls of interest. Most appointment processes remained opaque.

End of term: Not started

According to information gathered at a meeting with the interministerial OGP government team, the government has taken no further action in implementing the commitment.[Note 24: “Government Interministerial OGP” (meeting, the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction, 31 Aug. 2016).]

Did it open government?

Public accountability: Did not change

Ever since its inception in 2009, open calls for recruiting high-ranking public sector positions operated on an ad hoc basis and were solely dependent on the political will of each minister.  Introducing a comprehensive regulatory framework, along with appropriate procedures, could have had a transformative impact in selecting high-level personnel by attracting expertise found beyond the public sector. Attracting experts via a transparent meritocratic process will aid in depoliticizing the public sector. The ad hoc process of releasing open calls was evident from 2014-2016, when only fifteen calls were posted online.[Note 25: See “Home>Invitations,” Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction Public Administration and Local Government National Centre Documentation Unit and Innovation, http://www.opengov.gr/home/category/invitations/.] Since there was no progress in implementing the commitment, the Openwise IRM research team conclude it did not change the status quo or improve open governance.

Carried forward?

The third Greek action plan includes a modified version of this commitment. Commitment 7, “National Register of Line Managers of the Public Administration,” aims to apply a modern system for selecting line managers at the top of the administrative hierarchy in the public sector.

Greece's Commitments

  1. Framework law on Open & Participative Governance

    GR0031, 2016, Capacity Building

  2. Participation in the Assessment of the Public Sector

    GR0032, 2016, Capacity Building

  3. Publicity of Organisational Charts & Entities of the Public Sector

    GR0033, 2016, E-Government

  4. Accountability and Settlement of Disputes between the citizens and the Public Sector

    GR0034, 2016, Legislation & Regulation

  5. Guide and Standardization for the provision of Services & for Procedures per Service/entity

    GR0035, 2016, Capacity Building

  6. Improvement of the open deliberation procedure

    GR0036, 2016, Capacity Building

  7. National Register of Line Managers of the Public Administration (Register)

    GR0037, 2016, Capacity Building

  8. Implementation of the assessment of employees and services and control methods

    GR0038, 2016, Capacity Building

  9. Implementation of a System for the Selection of Managers

    GR0039, 2016, Capacity Building

  10. Digital Repository for Pubic Administration Studies

    GR0040, 2016, Capacity Building

  11. Provision of Open Cultural Data

    GR0041, 2016, E-Government

  12. Geospatial Maritime Data

    GR0042, 2016, E-Government

  13. Ship/Company and Seafarer Registers

    GR0043, 2016, E-Government

  14. Marine and Maritime Activity

    GR0044, 2016, E-Government

  15. Starred commitment Public Property Open Data

    GR0045, 2016, E-Government

  16. KPI’s for the implementation of Public and EU Financed Projects

    GR0046, 2016, E-Government

  17. Data and Statistics for Greek National Exams

    GR0047, 2016, E-Government

  18. Protocol Digitization

    GR0048, 2016, E-Government

  19. Informative Actions on open data for young people in Secondary and higher Education

    GR0049, 2016, Education

  20. Open Education

    GR0050, 2016, Capacity Building

  21. Provision of open data for Justice

    GR0051, 2016, E-Government

  22. Enhanced statistical data of justice open to the public

    GR0052, 2016, E-Government

  23. Open provision of Geo-data

    GR0053, 2016, E-Government

  24. Open-Participatory Budget

    GR0054, 2016, Fiscal Transparency

  25. Regional Council Platform (Open Regional Council)

    GR0055, 2016, E-Government

  26. Open - Participatory Budget

    GR0056, 2016, E-Government

  27. Capture and Evaluation Platform for Regional Technical Projects

    GR0057, 2016, E-Government

  28. City Dashboard

    GR0058, 2016, E-Government

  29. Online Consultation Platform

    GR0059, 2016, E-Government

  30. Open Data Index for cities and local administrations

    GR0060, 2016, E-Government

  31. Linked, Open and Participatory Budgets

    GR0061, 2016, E-Government

  32. School of data for public servants

    GR0062, 2016, Capacity Building

  33. The collaborative wikification of public services procedures

    GR0063, 2016, Capacity Building

  34. Strengthening openness and accessibility of the Parliament

    GR0064, 2016, Capacity Building

  35. Institutional and technological upgrading of Transparency Program

    GR0012, 2014, E-Government

  36. Public participation in decision making

    GR0013, 2014, Capacity Building

  37. Integration of PSI Directive on the re-use of public sector information

    GR0014, 2014, E-Government

  38. Regulatory amendments for the management and provision of open data

    GR0015, 2014, Capacity Building

  39. Implementation of platform for central distribution of public open data

    GR0016, 2014, E-Government

  40. Provision of open geospatial data

    GR0017, 2014, E-Government

  41. Provision of open cultural data

    GR0018, 2014, Legislation & Regulation

  42. Provision of open data for offshore companies

    GR0019, 2014, E-Government

  43. Open provision of Public Sector critical data sets

    GR0020, 2014, E-Government

  44. Open invitations for filling posts in the public sector

    GR0021, 2014, E-Government

  45. Public administration organizational chart publication

    GR0022, 2014, Capacity Building

  46. Coordination and monitoring of Open Government policy

    GR0023, 2014, Audits and Controls

  47. Reorganization of inspectorate bodies and strategic alliance development against corruption

    GR0024, 2014, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  48. Tracking changes on bills (from submission to voting by Plenum)

    GR0025, 2014, E-Government

  49. Usability and functionality improvements of the ‘Parliamentary Transparency’ section of the Hellenic Parliament website

    GR0026, 2014, E-Government

  50. Improvement of the Hellenic Parliament Website and implementation of new standards-technologies

    GR0027, 2014, E-Government

  51. Provision of historical parliamentary documents to the public

    GR0028, 2014, E-Government

  52. Enhancement of Social Media Policy in the Hellenic Parliament

    GR0029, 2014, E-Government

  53. On line provision of Exhibitions

    GR0030, 2014, Capacity Building

  54. Increase number of legislative acts going through online deliberation

    GR0001, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  55. Capitalize on citizen comments and suggestions

    GR0002, 2012, Public Participation

  56. Operate central e-procurement information system

    GR0003, 2012, E-Government

  57. Operate central ERP information system

    GR0004, 2012, E-Government

  58. Operate central HRMS information system

    GR0005, 2012, E-Government

  59. Open data regarding prices, as collected by Prices Observatory

    GR0006, 2012, Open Data

  60. Resolve legal issues regarding state geo-data

    GR0007, 2012, Land & Spatial Planning

  61. Offer additional taxation data

    GR0008, 2012, Fiscal Transparency

  62. Augment functionality of the Transparency Program

    GR0009, 2012, E-Government

  63. Publicise Public Sector procurement information

    GR0010, 2012, E-Government

  64. Enable open, transparent and safeguarded document circulation

    GR0011, 2012, E-Government