The draft law of the Ministry of the Interior on the “New system for selecting the administrations of public sector bodies, strengthening their efficiency and other provisions” is being introduced today for debate in the Plenary of the Parliament, while its vote is expected to take place on Thursday.

In the Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Administration, the bill was voted by a majority on the Authority, the articles and its entirety by the ND. On the contrary, SYRIZA, KKE and Niki voted against it, while PASOK-KINAL, Hellenic Solution, Spartans and Freedom Sailing reserved their place in the Plenary.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as well as the presidents of the opposition parliamentary groups are expected to take part in the discussion of the bill.

The Minister of the Interior, Niki Kerameos, as she announced to the Parliamentary Committee, will proceed with additions and improvements to the provisions of the bill, incorporating many of the proposals made by the MPs and which can be adopted.

Parallel to the draft law, a ministerial and a parliamentary amendment have been submitted. The ministerial amendment has provisions:

-For the granting of aid to agricultural holdings which were affected by the weather phenomena of September 2023.

-The provision of the possibility, upon request of the interested parties, to transfer regular employees who have been seconded to the General Secretariat of Civil Protection to its services.

– The extension of the provisions of the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy regarding the replacement of the inspector from the composition of the crew of shelling vessels (par. 4 of article 1 p.d. 33/2018) until October 1, 2026 as well as

– The extension of the entry into force until May 1, 2024 of the entry in a special public book of small ships (par. 2 of article 293 Law, 5020/2023).

Also, 11 SYRIZA MPs have tabled an amendment regarding the extension of the individual contracts of the cleaning staff of the University of Patras, which expired yesterday, until their employment with open-ended contracts.

What does the draft law provide?

The bill of the Ministry of the Interior, regarding the selection of administrations of public bodies, provides that:

– The selection process now falls under the Supreme Personnel Selection Council, to enhance transparency and objectivity.

– The Bodies are grouped, depending on the scope and type of their responsibilities and the procedures are differentiated, e.g. for the selection of a national-level lead body and for local-level bodies.

• Requirements for formal qualifications are increasing. All candidates must have a university degree, very good or good, as the case may be, knowledge of a foreign language and, as the case may be, work experience relevant to their subject of interest.

• Skill testing of candidates is conducted for specific groups of operators. The suitability of the candidates for the advertised positions is thus ensured, as it is verified in a reliable and objective manner that they can respond to their duties.

• Selection procedures are streamlined. Characteristic is the fact that it is planned to issue a single notice for the 120 hospital administrators instead of 120 separate notices and 120 separate procedures. In this way human resources, working hours, time and public money are saved.

Regarding the second axis of the bill, which is based on the fixed targeting and evaluation for the new Administrations of Public Bodies, it is foreseen:

• The preparation of annual action plans for each Agency, which include action planning, innovations, qualitative and specific quantitative objectives, which will be approved by the competent minister

• The Administrations should sign a performance contract, which will state specific actions and objectives and which will be posted on the website of the supervising Ministry.

•Evaluation of Administrations on an annual basis and, depending on the achievement of the goals set, to be given the possibility of a reward – productivity bonus, while the responsible minister can decide on the immediate termination of their term in case of non-achievement of the goals set.

• Agency workers, heads of organizational units, to be able to submit their opinion on the performance of the head and these opinions will be taken into account by the Minister, in the context of the annual evaluation.