The FERA demands agreements from parties to save the Professional Public Management law

The Fòrum d’Entitats per la Reforma de l’Administració (FERA) asks the main Catalan political forces to agree on a text that allows the processing of the Professional Public Management (DPP) law, "without excuses and with generosity," they affirmed this Wednesday in a statement. This regulation would allow high-ranking officials with management functions in the administration, such as general directors, directors of public bodies and companies, not to be chosen solely by political trust, but by merit and capacity. In their opinion, more immediate political mobilization is needed, as they fear that if it falls due to lack of consensus among parliamentary groups, the text would be rejected in its entirety and the legislative process would stop, thus losing "a unique opportunity to modernize our administration."

FERA is a meeting point for Catalan civil society entities that advocate the need to address the reform of public administration. Its members include entities such as a Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona, la Cecot, el Col·legi d’Economistes de Catalunya, el Col·legi d’Enginyers Industrials de Catalunya, FemCat i la Taula del Tercer Sector Social, among others. Specifically, they argue that numerous debates and proposals on this matter have taken place in Catalonia: Catalan Congresses of Public Management, White Paper on Catalan Public Function, Report on Good Governance and Administrative Transparency, etc. However, they have lamented in the statement that they still need to see political will to continue advancing and that the proposed law does not fall into oblivion.

In this latest statement, it has confirmed that "the incorporation of a professional public management model is a key piece of the Administration reform and cannot be postponed any longer." In fact, their insistence on the matter dates back a long time, as it was one of the ten demands that more than 300 entities made at the Llotja de Barcelona and that were collected in the Civil Society Agreement for the reform of the administration. They have assured, therefore, that although political groups show their understanding with the proposal of a Professional Public Management, no remedy has yet been found. "They cannot now procrastinate or excuse themselves with the argument that it will already be discussed through the Catalan public employment law," FERA recalled. They have also claimed that this regulation cannot be linked to the public employment law and, therefore, "materially requires independent regulation."

A firm debate, without delays

Last July, FERA celebrated the approval of the Public Management Directorate (DPP) bill, as they considered it to be the beginning of the "process that must lead to having public managers at the head of the Generalitat's administration". At that time, they called for an "in-depth" parliamentary debate to improve all aspects of the project. Since the summer, however, they are still waiting for this debate and have stated that as time passes, "the opportunity to professionalize the figure of the public manager is lost". For them, "it is an essential lever to advance in the reform of the administration".

The need for high-ranking officials chosen by meritocracy in public administrations seems to be a shared desire between entities and the Government. However, FERA has acknowledged that the existing text "is improvable" and they have even "presented amendments". However, in this case they are not asking for its immediate application but a real debate, "without delays" that leads to the appropriate changes. "It is time to reiterate that there cannot be a good country without a good administration, and that there will hardly be a better administration without the professionalization of Public Management," the entity warned.