Romanian Civil Service Facing New Career System Challenges

The current legislation on civil service statutes are an ineffectual mixture of the career and position systems that continue, rather than resolve, the major deficiencies-fragmentation and lack of coordination. The present legislation also omit essential provisions regarding salary and personnel classification. While government policy calls for a "career" rather than a "position" civil service structure, its draft statute mixes the two structures in a way that is inconsistent with European standards. Mobility represents a very important aspect in the development of public servants’ career, being encouraged by the following: from the public servants’ perspective, the mobility allows the familiarization with other areas of activities, developing new competences, or professional evolution; from an administrative perspective, mobility should be a way of increasing flexibility of the public institutional authority. Civil service in Romania continues to be intensely politicized: top and middle management is used to reward party supporters; lower levels are more stable, but not necessarily more professional, as survival strategies are more important than competence.