Scheele: Romania Heading Back With Admin Staff Recruitment

“Who has assignment priority might be a false debate, and it would be a useless debate if the recruitment of administration staff was made based on politically neutral competence principles. Alas, Romania seems to be taking steps backs compared to 2006 in this field,” Scheele said.

 

He said that the “vicious circle of political appointments in administration can also lead to situations which are hard to imagine in other EU states, such as mass dismissals or dismissals with absurd notice periods.”

 

“Obviously, the dismissed cannot always invoke meritocracy either,” Scheele mentioned.

 

“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t suggest a diminished role of the political class, some type of “technocracy”. The political class proposes and/or reflects the direction sought after by the community and it transforms it into policies, but it does not merge with the administration and it does not replace the administration in its technocratic and impartial core (…) Political passion cannot replace administrative rationality, it only gives it a direction,” Scheele said.

 

The Romanian executive adopted last week an ordinance allowing the swift replacement of heads of decentralized services across the country.

 

Prime Minister Emil Boc said the act targets replacing people who “cannot keep up with the pace requested by the ministers.”