SENIOR CIVIL SERVANTS (SUMMARY TABLE)

FUNCTIONAL

LEvEL TITLE PART OF SCS? POLITICAL

APPOINTMENT

1st Level Ministers No Yes

2nd Level Permanent Secretary Yes No

3rd Level Director-General

(Agency) Yes No

4th Level Head of Department Yes No

5th Level Head of Division Yes No

Recruitment: Recruitment of Senior Civil Servants is always carried out openly and publicly and public employees do not have any preference over candidates from the private sector. They are appointed by the Queen on the basis of a recommendation from an Executive Committee for a period of 3 to 6 years (extendable for a maximum of 3 more years). The employment contract includes their pay conditions and previsions for when the contract expires.

Recruitment is based on seniority, qualifications and merit shown in performance.

Performance assessment is annual and is performed by the immediate boss. Along with career and pay, training is one of the areas that underwent most changes in the 2007 Quality-reform, improving management qualifications.

The reform deals with the remuneration of SCS to make its management more flexible.

Whilst maintaining a centralised basic salary classification, various bonuses can be negotiated, with the possibility of linking results to their pay and likewise, between

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the performance appraisal of Director-Generals and their remuneration system. The Public Employee Authority has developed a pilot project to increase the number of women in management positions.

Overtime does not exist per se, but there are additional hours for SCS that may be awarded bonuses for an increased workload (in addition to those linked to the fulfilment of objectives). Flexi-time, part-time work or tele-working are not widespread, although they are possible. SCS have the same rights as the rest of employees in relation to maternity/parental leave.

8. RECENT REFORMS AND PROSPECTS

In addition to the aforementioned 1998/99 reforms to the pay system, the “Qualitative Reform” took place in 2007, with a total of 180 initiatives to improve Human Resource Management and particularly for Public Managers.

ESTONIA / 61

ESTONIA

1. REGIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION Introduction

The Republic of Estonia (Eesti Vabariik) has belonged to the European Union (EU) and NATO since 2004. Estonians are ethnic and the Estonian language shows many similarities to Finnish and they have close historical and cultural ties to Scandinavia, unlike the other two Baltic countries. It is an independent, sovereign and democratic republic.

System of government

Supreme power lies with the people who elect the “Riigikogu” (Parliament). The President is the Head of State, but the Riigikogu and the Government exercise legislative and executive power. The functions of the executive are divided into Government areas managed by Ministries. The State Chancellery (Government Agency) supports the Government and the Prime Minister.

The political and administrative systems are interrelated in the Ministries. 11 ministries are responsible for the organization of areas of government. The ministries are managed by political, ministers working in them. Constitutional Institutions consist of Chancellery of the Riigikogu, Office of the Legal Chancellor, Office of the President, Supreme Court, State Audit Office. Ministers (politicians and members of the central government) are the heads of the Ministries and the Government Agencies. The regulation that controls the Government of the Republic classifies the agencies of the Executive Power as follows: Government Agencies; State Agencies administered by the former.

Government Agencies are administrative agencies (Ministries, the State Chancellery, County Government, Executive Agencies and Inspectorates, their Regional Offices, etc.). They are funded through the state budget and their main function is to exercise Executive Power.

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TYPE OF POWER

LEvEL

LEGISLATIvE

POWER ExECUTIvE POWER JUDICIARY POWER National Level The

Parliament Riigikogu

Government of the Republic and Government Agencies

Supreme Court

Regional Level County government, State Regional Offices, Regional Associations of Municipalities

Circuit, County and Administrative courts

Local Level Local Council and

Government

Regional organization

Estonia is a unitary State without self-governing regions which is divided into Counties, rural municipalities and cities (193 rural municipalities and 33 cities which in turn form 15 Counties). The Constitution forbids the establishment of self-governing regions or the creation of a Federal State. Local affairs are managed autonomously by local governments, which are the rural municipalities and cities, on which obligations may be imposed by law or via agreements with the local government.

The country is divided into 15 Counties (maakonnad) as administrative sub-divisions. The County Government (maavalitsus) of each county is headed by a Governor (maavanem), appointed for 5 years, as the central government’s representative at regional level.

The regional level of the administrative system includes: county governments, and

; regional offices of executive agencies, inspectorates and regional associations of municipalities. Each Local Government of the 226 cities and rural municipalities has an administrative mechanism for the local government and its inhabitants. The number of administration staff depends on the size of the municipality (from 1,000 public servants in Tallinn to less than 5 in small municipalities). At local level, the 193 rural municipalities (vald) and the 33 towns (linn) are responsible for organizing the areas of education, housing, leisure, etc within the area of a local government unit.

The administrative system currently has the following levels: National: the State Chancellery, Ministries, Executive Agencies, Inspectorates and Government Agencies.