Good Civil Service Act – a precondition for combating state capture in Slovakia


The main project goal is to safeguard the adoption of a good Civil Service Act in Slovakia which will be adopted by the Parliament in 2016. Politicization of the civil service in Slovakia is considered to be the key problem in regard to its performance by various international institutions (i.e EC, OECD) as well as by the academics and NGO sector. Based on our expertise we consider the current situation in civil service as part of the state capture scheme which has rooted in Slovakia in the last decade. By state capture we understand the ability of various interest groups to influence the policy-making and policy decision in their favor. Current legislation on the civil service allows partisan influence on all levels of civil service and stipulates high fluctuation of the staff. In correlation with non-functioning control mechanisms and absence of evaluation culture in the Slovak civil sector it results in low efficiency, instability and inability to attract high-skilled professionals.Activities of the project aim to:

  1. stimulate expert discussion on the civil service topic
  2. involve MPs in expert discussions, thus allow them to learn about the civil sector topic before voting on the Act
  3. disseminate expert consensus on the main features of the new act
  4. adopt Civil Service Act that meets high criteria in regard to combating state capture