it is the liquidation or privatization of the civil service

“Liquidation or privatization of the civil service is accepted with the help of the votes of fellow social democracies. It’s a really united support, really such a strong coalition in this place. And those flaws have all remained,” S. Skvernelis told reporters in the Seimas on Thursday.

According to the member of the Seimas, this reform concentrates particularly large powers in the hands of the heads of state institutions.

“The model that is being legalized now is selection without tenders, non-centralized selection in principle. The manager is left with full discretion, who to hire, who to fire, who to pay a higher salary, who not to pay,” the politician emphasized.

“If we had some stories about “princes” from municipalities and state-owned companies, now the whole state can become an example of such beaver companies, ministries and institutions,” he also noted.

S. Skvernelis admits that certain compromises were made when negotiating the provisions of the civil service reform, but, according to him, they are not essential.

“It was possible to preserve the rights of trade unions, which they wanted to eliminate, and they were defended in the field of social guarantees and holidays. But the point is the acceptance and management itself. If there is no centralized selection, then you raise the salaries of your managers, you create a system so that whoever I want, I pay them a high salary, and whoever I want a low salary”, S. Skvernelis criticized the reform.

“This creates such an environment that when the Seimas is released, you can go to such an institution with your managers, work and receive a much higher salary than that of a member of the Seimas”, he added.

ELTA reminds that on Thursday the Seimas approved the reform of the civil service, which foresees a new procedure for raising the salary of civil servants and initiates other important changes.

Changes in salaries of politicians and civil servants

From July 1 of this year. salaries should increase for judges, mayors and heads of the Special Investigation Service (STT) and intelligence structures. And from January 1, 2024 salary changes are foreseen for other groups of civil servants.

At that time, the second and essential stage of salary review is proposed to be scheduled for 2025. Thus, the second salary increase and more significant changes would reach civil servants in 2026.

“Calculation of salaries of politicians, public officials and judges. Salaries for mayors and judges would increase from 2023. on July 1, for members of the Seimas and members of the Government – from the new term of office”, says Audrius Petrošius, one of the drafters of the conclusions of the State Administration and Municipalities Committee (VVSK).

It was also agreed to abandon the so-called “half-terms of managers”, which were proposed so that managers of public institutions who served more than half of the term could not apply for a higher salary. The Seimas approved the proposal not to apply this division.

It is also suggested that the selection of managers be centralized and organized by the Public Management Agency.

The committee also agreed on a new basic amount for calculating the salaries of civil servants. It was agreed to be linked to the average monthly wage. The project proposes to set the base size in 2022. the amount of the average monthly wage – 1785.4 euros.

According to the organizers, this amount will be important only when recalculating the current official salary coefficient. When recalculating, the current official salary will be taken and divided by the base amount, thus obtaining a new official salary coefficient. The main change will be that in subsequent years, unlike now, a new basic amount will not be approved, but an increase in the wage fund will be negotiated. This means that the national collective agreement will agree on how much to increase the institutions’ “salary fund”, and the head of the institution will distribute these funds according to the institution’s salary policy.

After the adoption of the package of laws, the salaries of politicians, public officials and judges would be indexed by the same amount as agreed in the national collective agreement to increase the wage fund of institutions.

Allowance for length of service and leave arrangements are maintained

Also, a compromise was reached in VVSK to leave the vacation procedure of civil servants and the supplement to the salary for length of service in force until now. However, the committee approved the proposal that the length of service for which the salary supplement is paid should be reduced from 30 to 20 percent. the size of official salary. However, it is intended to make an exception for employees who have already accumulated more seniority – their bonus would not be reduced.

The reform also envisages that employees who by 2023 will not get a higher education, it will be possible to continue in the position only in the current position until the age of 65. They will also not be eligible for extension of service.

Also, the state reform aims to establish that personnel administration, accounting, document management, accounting and storage, public procurement, internal audit, project management, public relations support, internal investigations, information and communication technology administration, property administration, other economic whether activities of a technical nature would be considered internal administration activities of the institution and these functions should be performed by non-civil servants.

Therefore, institutions until 2025 will have to review the positions of civil servants and the specified positions, or change them to those employed under employment contracts, or cancel the position. In order for the process to be smooth, the Public Management Agency will check all institutions and these completed processes within 5 years, according to the initiators.

In the first stage of civil service reform, 34 legal acts are changed.