Sadržaj projekta :
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 ![](images/spacer.gif)
Table was to present and discuss the findings of the two
studies – «Policy Coordination in Serbia: the Case of ![](images/spacer.gif)
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 ![](images/spacer.gif)
reform of the highest government institutions (Offices of the
Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, General ![](images/spacer.gif)
![](images/spacer.gif)
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 ![](images/arr1.gif)
Brenke ![](images/arr1.gif)
Brusis ![](images/arr1.gif)
Ionita ![](images/arr1.gif)
Stumpf
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