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GOVERNMENT REFORM IN ITALY: STATE OF THE ART

This article explores the need for government reform in Italy and discusses the various tools and areas of reform, including devolution, outsourcing, and administrative federalism. It also examines the success of privatization in Italy and the reorganization of central government.

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GOVERNMENT REFORM IN ITALY: STATE OF THE ART

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  1. GOVERNMENT REFORM IN ITALY:STATE OF THE ART Franco BASSANINI Cabinet Minister for Public Administration Italy Today: Public Administration Issues AD HOC COUNCIL - Rome November 13, 2000 www.funzionepubblica.it

  2. The need for Reformin the early nineties • An obsolete administration: no government-wide reforms since 1865 • An inefficient administration: islands of excellence in a sea of general inefficiency • A costly administration: crucial need to balance the budget and reduce public debt F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  3. The need for Reformpublic debt up to 1994 (% of GDP) Source: Italy - Ministry of the Treasury F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  4. Calls for Reform The need for change drives large calls for Reform and consequently a large consensus among: • Public • Business • Labor • Parliament (a bipartisan reform) F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  5. The Tools of Reform • A broad “delegating law” (legge delega) n. 59 of 1997: Parliament delegates Government the power to adopt “legislative decrees” (primary level regulation) in defined areas, pursuant to the principles set by the law • The “delegislation” (delegificazione) mechanism: Parliament authorizes Government to substitute primary laws with Governmental decrees (secondary level regulation) in two main sectors: administrative procedures and organization of public offices F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  6. Devolution, outsourcing and “administrative federalism” Reorganization of Central Government Civil Service Reform A performance-oriented public sector management Simplifying regulatory and administrative burdens The new Public Budgeting A more transparent and comprehensible Government e-Government The Main Areas of Reform F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  7. Devolutiona leaner but more efficient State Horizontal subsidiarity - focusing Government on its core business: • closing unnecessary Government activities • outsourcing and/or privatizing activities that can be more efficiently undertaken by the private sector (business and non-profit organizations) • liberalization of public utilities F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  8. Devolutionliberalization and privatization • Liberalization. Three examples: • 110 fixed telecommunication licenses and 86 operators instead of Telecom Italia monopoly • unbundling of local loop from end 2000 • ENEL control of electricity market: from 90% in 1990 to less than 40% in 2003 • Privatization of public utilities: ENI, BNL, INA, ENEL, Telecom, Alitalia, Autostrade … world largest privatization program (total revenue up to end 1999: approx. 87 billions US Dollars) F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  9. Devolutionrevenues from privatization in OECD countries (1993 - 1998) Millions US Dollars France (F) 48.530 Germany (G) 15.392 Italy (I) 63.473 Spain (S) 34.441 Un. King. (UK) 28.709 Japan (J) 46.721 USA (US) 3.100 Canada (C) 7.024 Australia (AUS) 45.000 F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy Source: OECD

  10. Devolutiontotal stock mkt cap/GDP The privatization program has contributed fostering the growth of the Italian equity market F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  11. Devolutionstrengthening local Governments • Strengthening stability of local Governments direct election of Majors (since 1993), Presidents of Provinces (1993), Presidents of Regions (2000) • Strengthening financial autonomy of local Governments: the “fiscal federalism” transformation of State financial transfers to Local Authorities into local taxation or participation in main State taxes (VAT, Income tax…) • Strengthening sovereignty of Local Governments transferring general legislative powers to Regions (constitutional bill presented by the Government) • Strengthening efficiency of Local Administrations reform of control mechanisms, “city managers”, local public managers chosen also from private sector, salaries linked to performance F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  12. Devolutionthe “administrative federalism” • 1997: law n. 59 identifies a mandatory list of State tasks and plans the devolution of all other tasks to Regions, Provinces and Municipalities • 1997-1998: five “legislative decrees” identify in detail the tasks to be transferred from central to local Government • 1999-2000: Prime Minister decrees transfer groups of tasks together with related human and financial resources • January 1st, 2001: end of devolution process F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  13. Devolutionopinions of the public Has the “Bassanini reform” improved the efficiency of local Governments? F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  14. Reorganization of Central Governmentthe general strategy • The first government-wide Reform since 1865: a system up to now grown only by “adding layers” • Merging bodies with similar missions; eliminating duplication and segmentation • Functions assigned by law; internal organization established by a more flexible secondary regulation. End of the traditional “pyramid model” for Ministries • Reducing the Ministries from 22 (in 1995) to 18 (present) to 12 (in April 2001) • Introducing “Agencies”: non-ministerial bodies with technical and executive tasks • “Central Government Local Offices”: merging several State local offices into a single “interministerial” body F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  15. Reorganization of Central Governmentreform of the Prime Minister’s Office • Making the role of stimulating, guiding and coordinating more effective • A leaner but stronger, more flexible structure • Additional specific responsibilities of P.M.O.: Government reform, regulation, P.A., dialogue with supra- and intra- national Authorities (EU, Regions, Municipalities) • Transferring all other executive tasks to “sector” administrations F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  16. Reorganization of Central Governmentfrom 18 to 12 Ministries 1 – Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2 – Ministry of the Interior 3 – Ministry of Justice 4 – Ministry of Defense 5 – Ministry of Economy and Finance -Ministryof the Treasury and Budget - Ministry of Finance • - Ministry of Industry, Trade and Crafts • - Ministry of Foreign Trade • Ministry of Communications • P.M.O. Tourism Dept. 6 – Ministry for Production Activities 7 – Ministry of Agriculture F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  17. Reorganization of Central Governmentfrom 18 to 12 Ministries • - Ministry of Environment • Ministry of Public Works (part) • P.M.O. “Servizi Tecnici” Dept. 8 – Ministry of the Environment and Protection of the Territory • Ministry of Public Works (part) • Ministry of Transport • P.M.O. Dept. for Urban Areas 9 – Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport 10 - Ministry of Employment, Health and Social Policies • - Ministry of Employment and Social Security • - Ministry of Health • P.M.O. Dept. of Social Affairs 11 - Ministry of Education, Universities and Research • - Ministry of Education • Ministry of Universities and Scientific Research 12 - Ministry of Heritage and Culture - Ministry of Heritage and Culture - P.M.O. Dept. of Sport - P.M.O. Dept. of Entertainment F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  18. Civil Service Reformdistinguishing Politics from Administration • «Politicians are responsible for Policies»: Ministers define policies and strategies, assess results, appoint general directors but have no further direct involvement in administration • «Public managers are responsible for Administration»: public managers are given broader powers but also greater responsibilities, and higher salaries linked to results and performance F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  19. Civil Service Reformthe “privatization” of Civil Service • Civil law for civil servants public administration has the same powers as private sector employers • Jurisdiction for civil service disputes since 1998 transferred from the Administrative to the Civil Courts F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  20. Civil Service Reformthe “contractualization” of Civil Service • Labor Contracts: • collective bargaining (at national and local levels) replaced the law in determining employment conditions, salaries and tasks. The “integrative negotiation” • promoting efficiency and professionalism through individual integrative contracts • «A.R.A.N.» an Agency created to represent the State in labor negotiations in place of the Minister (but following Government guidelines) • Reform of labor representation for each public sector (Ministries, Education, Health …) bargaining with the State is allowed only to those Unions having more than 5% of the consensus in that sector F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  21. Civil Service Reformthe Resistances Strong contradictions and incoherencies remain in: • The behaviour of Trade Unions: • the choice, in principle, in favour of professionalism and merit, responsibility and decentralisation is sometimes contradicted • The behaviour of Politicians, administrators and public managers: • no global vision in salary increases • strong defence of privileges and of the “maze of charges” • Parliament choices: • The choice, in principle, in favour of collective bargaining, meritocracy and quality is contradicted by the constant enactment of rules creating favouritism: “ope legis” promotions, permanent hiring without concours of pro-tempore workers etc. F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  22. A performance-orientedpublic administrationthe new approach • Before: a formal/juridical approach to government: compliance with laws and procedures without regard to quality and results • Now: a consumer-oriented approach • quality service and customer satisfaction • new performance control complementing traditional legal control • public service charters • promoting professional growth: a special training program • Public administration “close to citizens and businesses”: • favors the allocation of investment capital • acquires relevance “beyond the national borders” • partially sheds its authoritative nature F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  23. A performance-orientedpublic administrationthe new public management • An interministerial body of public managers, with few exceptions • Access by concours, a formal competitive examination (no more than 5% of managers may be chosen from outside the Civil Service for a fixed term) • No more “jobs for life”: individual contracts (fixed term: 2-7 years) determine assignment, duties and salaries • Managers’ salaries vary depending on responsibilities and performances F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  24. A performance-orientedpublic administrationthe Resistances • Administrations and judges still show a legalistic and statist culture • The defence of irremovability and irresponsibility of top civil servants in the name of administrative neutrality • The fear of the spoils system (it exists in the USA, but not in Italy…) • The refusal of the culture of evaluation and merit F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  25. Simplificationthe problems • Regulatory inflation: over 35,000 primary laws (of State and Regions) • Regulatory costs: unnecessary burdens on the public, on businesses and even on public administrations • Regulatory pollution: ambiguity, contradictions, overlapping, layers of rules generate uncertainty on the existing law F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  26. Simplificationa specific policy on regulatory reform • Regulatory impact analysis to measure the cost of new regulations on the public and business • A central “Regulatory Simplification Unit” a task force of 65 experts and staff in P.M.O., exclusively monitoring “regulatory quality”, drafting simplification decrees and consolidated texts • Consultation the “Osservatorio per la semplificazione”: a consultative body with representatives from Ministries, Regions, Local Authorities and social parties F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  27. Simplificationthe tools • “Self-declarations” replace more than 95% of the certificates • “Notification of the beginning of an activity” and silent consent (in 194 cases) replace authorizations and licenses • One “conferenza di servizi” (combined services conference) replaces many administrative acts • One-stop-shop (on line): a single procedure to start up a new productive plant, replacing 43 previously needed authorizations (see specific slide) • Few consolidated texts replace thousands of laws and decrees • Annual simplification laws enabling government to abolish or simplify existing procedures, authorizations and licenses. F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  28. Simplificationsome initial results • 180 procedures ruled by primary law have already been “delegislated” (ready to be abolished or simplified by Government decree) • 71 procedures already simplified by Government (50% in the year 2000, with the support of the new central unit). They include the one-stop-shops for: new productive plants, car drivers, import-export trade • 8 consolidated texts drafted (on local Governments, cultural heritage, administrative documentation, building activities, expropriations, university, civil service, justice expenses); 3 of them already in force • relevant progress in regulatory capacity shown by the draft report of the OECD regulatory review F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  29. Progress in regulatory capacity indicators, 1998-2000 Source: OECD, Public Management Directorate, 2000. F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  30. Simplification# of certificates issued per year * Data 2000: 8-month projection of the year 2000 F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy Source: Italy – Department of Public Administration

  31. Simplification# of certified signatures issued per year * Data 2000: 8-month projection of the year 2000 F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy Source: Italy – Department of Public Administration

  32. Simplificationthe opinion of the public Do you think it is useful? Do you know that in most cases all you need is a self-declaration? Source: ISPO F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  33. Simplification – the one-stop-shop example“not only a single access, but also a single answer” • Since 1999 a single procedure to start up a new business, replacing 43 authorizations previously needed • Before: 2-5 years to get a final answer • Now: normally no more than 3 months in most cases, max 11 months (average time: 57 days in a sample of 100 operational one stop shops) • One single office to deal with businesses and a new role for Municipalities in the development of their territory • An e-structure, accessible through the net F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  34. The new public budgetingfrom financial to economic budget • Before: a segmented spending model with more than 6.000 expenditure units • Now: about 1.000 basic budget units, matching each Ministry’s target and responsibility • Only one administrative office responsible for each basic unit • New economic budget showing the link between the use of resources and achievements F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  35. The new public budgetingnew spending procedures • Drafting the budget: no longer the traditional criteria of incremental spending • An effective cost analysis to back the annual financing law and the spending legislation • More effective constraints on Government expenditure bills and parliamentary amendments • An electronic mandate • Towards a permanent electronic market for public purchases • Planning hiring of civil servants F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  36. The new public budgetingpublic sector personnel cost (% of GDP) Source: OECD and Italy DPEF 2000-2003 F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  37. The new public budgetingpublic deficit (% of GDP) Source: ISTAT and Italy DPEF 2000-2003 F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  38. The new public budgetingpublic debt (% of GDP) Source: ISTAT and Italy DPEF 2000-2003 F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  39. The new public budgetingprimary expenditure in Italy and EU (% of GDP) Source: ISTAT and European Commission F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  40. e-Government • IT: the best resource for a leap forward in quality change • Electronic management of administrative documents, procedures and archives • 12,000 billion liras (5,2 bill. USD) for investments in 2000-2002 (11,000 already allocated, 1,300 coming from the UMTS licenses) • Electronic ID card (under experiment) • The “Government Portal”: a single gateway for public administrations • Towards electronic public procurements F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  41. e-Governmentsome first results • «Electronic Revenue Service»: 100%income tax returns (40 millions per year) are filed and reviewed electronically • Land Register (80% of documents are filed and reviewed electronically) • Electronic signature (having legal value from 1998): more than 1 million signatures already certified by 8 companies • A Single Administrative Network F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  42. The Italian Action Plan fore-Government • Citizens will obtain any public service by simply applying to any front-office administration in charge • Citizens will communicate variations in their personal information to the administration only once • Each administration will be able to gather the information needed, wherever stored (all public services on line) • All the public services for which it is technically possible will be delivered on line F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  43. Exchange of information system for local land-registries Electronic identity cards Promotion of digital signatures Informatic Protocols e-procurement Foundation courses Specialist courses Action Planpoints • Information portals • Portals for supply of services • National networks • Local administrations on line • Integration of personal data • National index of personal data F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  44. The Future of Reform The crucial phase of implementation the Reform has almost been achieved in its laws and decrees, but laws alone cannot change citizens’ lives What are now the main challenges? F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  45. The Future of Reform Changing the culture Acquiring and disseminating new approaches: • to technological and organizational innovation • to simplification (releasing unnecessary administrative burdens) • to quality of service and performance • to citizen-user satisfaction • to rewarding professionalism and merit • to promoting, encouraging and energizing citizens and businesses F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  46. The Future of Reform Communication disseminating and sharing information to explain to citizens their new rights F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  47. The Future of Reform Investing on Public Administration • in training, to improve knowledge and awareness of the main interpreters of the Reform • in IT, to exploit the enormous opportunities of digital revolution • in financial incentives, to promote quality of services and professional growth F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

  48. The Future of Reform The «Maastricht approach» EURO example: Italy is a country capable of finding hidden human resources to face the most difficult tasks F. Bassanini - Government Reform in Italy

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