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 Report from the «Policy Coordination and Strategic Policy Advice in Serbia» Round Table was held at the Center for  Liberal-Democratic Studies. The purpose of the Round Table was to present and discuss the findings of the two studies – «Policy Coordination in Serbia: the Case of the Trade Policy» and «Strategic Advice in Serbia». It was attended by local and international experts in public administration reform, specifically experts in the area of reform of the highest government institutions (Offices of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, General Secretariat, Legislative Secretariat). The study was financed by the Bertelsmann Foundation, as a part of the project «Strategies of Development and Transformation» jointly managed by the Bertelsmann Foundation and Munich- based Center for Applied Policy Research.

Marko Paunovic, the author of the study, presented the current situation in Serbia. The center of the government is fragmented, and the most significant problem is that key decision makers fail to understand that the problem exists. In that sense, the real advisory function does not exist in Serbia and it comes down to creation of many government advisory boards which to not really work and have frequently never met. The offices of the key decision makers (prime minister and deputy prime minister), mostly do not get involved into the daily operations of the government and their influence to most of the government issues is rather limited. Also, the institutions which should coordinate the work of other government bodies (such as offices of PM and DPM, and General Secretariat), do not have the capacity to coordinate the operations of other government bodies, although they have a mandate to do so. Also, there is an evident lack of political will to take some steps in that direction. The author also presented a detailed case study in policy coordination in Serbia – the case of trade policy.

Other participants also presented their experiences. Mr. Istvan Stumpf presented the experience on the center of government reform in Hungary. Mr. Siegrid Brenke presented the local level view at the policy coordination process. Mr. Martin Brusis gave an overview of the various models of policy coordination and the way Serbian case fits into those models. Mr. Sorin Ioanita presented the Romanian experience.

The participants agreed that part of the problem is linked to political issues, such as coalition government in Serbia, which is strictly divided by parties and which does not enable harmonized public policies. However, the major problem is the fact that key decision makers do not understand the problem. In that sense it was suggested that EU integration process will require the harmonization of government procedures with the EU standards.

The experiences of other countries confirm this finding. However, without clear political will and leadership it is very difficult to implement deep reforms, since those reforms undermine many interests.

 Presentations: 
Paunović  
Brenke  
Brusis  
Ionita  
Stumpf