Although lasting efforts to establish a professional and an apolitical civil service in Poland truly began with the CSA of 1998, previous unsuccessful attempts to reform public administration and establish a professional civil service corps were undertaken in 1991 and 1993. Unfortunately, fragmentation of political power, instability of government (four government regimes in four years), and, perhaps most significantly, a lack of political backing in parliament for such efforts resulted in this reformatory work being almost completely lost.
One notable and positive step toward the development of apolitical professionals for civil service employment was the establishment of the National School of Public Administration (NSPA). Modeled on the French Ecole Nationale d’Administration, the NSPA enrolled its first candidates in 1991. Commenting on NSPA performance, two World Bank experts noted, “The NSPA is one of a few such institutions in the former Soviet bloc, and its impressive achievements should not be underestimated.
In mobilising resources to tap into international experience on elite cadre training, it has planted the seeds of a very good higher civil staff college.”10 However, the elitist character of the school resulted in only approximately 60 graduates each year, and it took 15 years for the total number of its graduates working in civil service to reach 600.
The next step toward professionalizing public administration took place in 1996 when the first CSA was passed. As a result of this act, Poland received praise and recognition for successes in advancing civil service reform and being “well ahead of most other countries in the region.”11 Unfortunately, however, the CSA of 1996 was in force for only less than one year, and its real influence on the develop- ment of a professional civil service corps was minimal. Nevertheless, the CSA of 1996 provided an important step in the development of the institutional frame- work for a more professional civil service insofar as it promoted the separation of
politics from public administration, which was part of a wider reform objective aimed at strengthening executive performance. Poland’s central administration had been marked by several narrow branches of ministries as a result of the communist legacy. Through reform, however, the number of Polish ministries was significantly reduced to create more consolidated bureaucratic structure, and the role of the prime minister was gradually strengthened. Moreover, additional legislation sup- porting CSA reform identified and clearly distinguished politically dependent posi- tions in public administration (those positions in which individuals changed with a change in government; i.e., ministers, vice ministers, and governors) from politi- cally neutral positions.12 Despite the fact that implementation of the CSA of 1996 stalled on grounds that it was politically biased because of accusations of favoritism toward communist cadres, this legislation nonetheless represents progress toward creating a more streamlined, efficient, and politically neutral public administration in Poland.
After parliamentary elections and a change of government leadership, a new CSA was enacted in 1998, in part to address the charges of political bias lodged against the 1996 act. Despite political differences between the reformers of 1996 and 1998, some parts of the institutional framework were preserved. For example, in both acts, a clear separation was drawn between the political and administrative spheres of responsibility insofar as directors general were recognized to hold the most senior administrative positions in ministries, central offices, agencies, and regional offices. As such, they were responsible for managing their respective insti- tutions and the personnel within them.
The main challenge of public administration following the collapse of commu- nism was to improve its professional standards and performance. Reformers sought to achieve these objectives through the CSA of 1998, which became the act with primary influence on professionalizing the civil service for the next eight years; lon- ger than any previous CSA. Consistent with Polish tradition, this act made a clear distinction between civil service employees (lower state functionaries employed on the basis of job contracts) and civil servants (appointed state officials). However, to clarify professional standards and develop a more apolitical civil service, the CSA of 1998 introduced the requirement of a professional qualifying examination (mianowania) for all civil service employees wishing to become civil servants. Civil service employees who chose to take and successfully passed the qualifying exam would automatically obtain civil servant status and would then become eligible for recruitment to nomination positions—civil service posts reserved for individu- als who had taken and passed the qualifying exam. Implemented in mid-1999, the requirements for a candidate to enter the nomination process as articulated in the CSA of 1998 were (1) to be a civil service employee, (2) to have completed six months of preparatory service, (3) to have at least two years’ work experience within the civil service, (4) to hold a master’s degree, (5) to have command of at least one foreign language, and (6) to be a reservist soldier or not otherwise be sub- ject to conscription. In recognition of the professional standards emphasized and
employed by the NSPA, the CSA of 1998 exempted graduates of this school from the qualifying exam and the preparatory service requirement and instead required them to merely submit a formal application to be considered for civil servant status and nomination positions.
Passing the qualifying exam and becoming a nominated civil servant also brought into view benefits such as increased wages, seniority, additional holidays, and guaranteed employment stability for what was projected to be an increasing number of professionally qualified, nominated civil servants. Thus, the intent of the reformers who crafted the CSA of 1998 was to lay a sound foundation for professionalizing Poland’s civil service by establishing clearly defined professional standards, requiring a professional qualifying examination for civil servant status, and gradually increasing the proportion of civil servants who would be recruited to occupy nomination positions and comprise the professional corps within Poland’s civil service.
Requirements to become and receive the status of a civil servant were high to enhance the professional competence and political neutrality of the civil ser- vice. Therefore, the pace of nominations—the rate of increase in the number of those who passed the professional qualifying exam and therefore became eligible for nomination positions—may be regarded as a good indicator of the develop- ment of professionalization within Poland’s civil service system (see Table 7.1). In the early years of implementing the CSA of 1998, government plans for develop- ment of professional, nominated civil servants were rather moderate, with expected nominations of approximately 2,500 each year between 2000 and 2002. Reform- ers assumed that the final number of nominated civil servants would eventually reach 30,000. In reality, however, the pace of nominations was extremely slow and fell well short of government expectations during these three years. As shown in Table 7.1, 458 non-NSPA candidates volunteered to take the qualifying exam required for nomination to professional positions within Poland’s civil service in 2000. There were, however, 2,539 positions available to qualified non-NSPA candi- dates in that year. As Table 7.1 shows, only 458 non-NSPA candidates volunteered to take the exam, thus resulting in the capacity to have no more than 18 percent of the available nomination positions open to non-NSPA graduates filled with quali- fied individuals in 2000. Moreover, only 204 of the 458 exam takers (44 percent) passed the exam in that same year. As a result, the number of available nomination positions open to non-NSPA graduates was substantially reduced from 2,539 in 2000 to fewer than 500 in each of the subsequent three years. Finally, with an aver- age passing rate of only 57 percent for the candidates taking the qualifying exam required for nomination in the three years between 2000 and 2002, the number of professional, nominated civil servants anticipated as a result of the CSA of 1998 was eventually reduced by half to 15,000.
In addition to the lower than expected rate of exam takers passing the exam, data shown in Table 7.1 reflect a continuing shortage of qualified candidates com- ing from within civil service who were willing to take the exam and enter the
nomination procedures. Four main reasons are offered to explain this phenom- enon. First, a sense of instability developed as the CSA of 1996 was swiftly replaced (by a new government) by the CSA of 1998, which produced abrupt changes to the rules of the administrative game with regard to nominations procedures. Potential candidates wanting to take the professional qualifying exam had serious reserva- tions given that some of the nominations earned under the CSA of 1996 had been withheld by the new government, and some candidates feared that nominations earned under the CSA of 1998 could face the same fate. Second, the exams were perceived to be difficult, and financial incentives were not attractive. Third, a mere 10 percent of civil servants were able to fulfill the foreign language requirement.
Finally, traditionally negative attitudes toward public administration played a cru- cial role. Only gradually did members of Poland’s civil service develop a sense of stability in the new institutional order, decide to improve their qualifications, and apply for the qualifying examination required for nominations.13 Thus, as a result of the candidate shortage, the low rate of passed exams, and the ongoing struggle to overcome the communist legacy of politically captured government administra- tion, plans for professionalizing civil service were scaled back significantly.
Table 7.1 Trends in Poland’s Civil Service Nominations
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total available nominations 2,800 500 400a 450b 600 1,500 3,000 NSPA graduates receiving
nominations
261c 58 62 52 48 58 61
Remaining nominations available for non-NSPA candidates
2,539 442 338 398 552 1,442 2,939
Candidates taking exam 458 324 374 633 1,406 4,176 3,456 Candidates passing exam 204 218 229 395 830 1,753 1,810 Non-NSPA candidates
receiving nominations
204 218 229 395 552 1,440 1,784
Grand total of nominations received
465c 276 291 447 600 1,458 1,845
Source: Adapted from Yearly Reports of the Chief of Civil Service (Sprawozdania Szefa Służby Cywilnej), Office of the Civil Service, Warsaw, http://usc.gov.
pl/usc/index.jsp?place=menu06&news_cat_id=224&layout=1.
Note: NSPA = National School of Public Administration.
a According to 2002 budget proposal.
b According to 2003 budget proposal.
c In March 2000, 208 NSPA alumni who graduated in previous years received nominations.
The situation improved in 2003, when the number of candidates taking the professional qualifying exam nearly doubled to 633 as compared to 374 in the pre- vious year (see Table 7.1). For the first time, government expectations were under- estimated in 2004, and the number of non-NSPA candidates taking the qualifying exam was more than 2.5 times the number of available nomination posts. In response, the government nearly tripled the number of available nomination posts to 1,500 in 2005 (1,442 of which were left available to non-NPSA graduates after NSPA graduates were given priority to fill 58 posts), as compared to a total of 600 available positions in the previous year. The proposed number of available positions for 2006 was even more substantial, as it was doubled to 3,000, with 2,939 of those positions left open to qualified non-NPSA graduates. As these data suggest, and after many initial difficulties, it seemed that efforts to professionalize the Polish civil service were finally beginning to produce positive results.
Passage of the CSA of 2006, however, appears to have reversed this positive trend toward professionalization, as the rapid increase in civil service nominations during the past three years has been perceived as a source of threat to the profes- sional corps within the civil service. Because the communist legacy remains deeply rooted in the Polish political culture, civil servants nominated under postcommu- nist governments were viewed with distrust amid suspicions that the new regime was not making a distinction between senior civil servants and political appoin- tees. This culture of suspicion was reinforced by new regulations implemented in 2006, through which senior administrative positions had officially become political spoils. In fact, the CSA of 2006 radically redefined the concept of the Polish civil service by limiting civil servants to lower administrative positions, thus reserving senior positions for individuals with political connections. Critics suggest that, in reality, the CSA of 2006 represents the end of the apolitical civil service corps in Poland. Reflecting this opinion, the former chairman of the Civil Service Council described the current nature of the Polish civil service as a return to the communist nomenklatura system.14
Incentives for civil service employees to apply for nominations have also been seriously undermined by the CSA of 2006. Instead of two years of administra- tive experience, candidates for nomination are now expected to have worked in an administrative capacity for three years. And rather than requiring command of a single foreign language, the foreign language requirement is now limited to the working languages of the European Union (EU).15 In contrast to the raised expectations of those applying for the nomination process, standards pertaining to individuals just beginning work in administration have been minimized, and the six-month preparatory service required under the CSA of 1998 as a starting point to develop a professional public service was reduced by half and became optional.
Taken together, these changes resulting from the CSA of 2006 may seriously under- mine the professional development of the Polish civil service in the long run.
Furthermore, additional regulations came into force in May 2006 that were aimed at promoting the transfer of local government employees and those employed
by the Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) into the civil service. It is widely per- ceived that the reason for singling out representatives of these two groups for civil service employment is that the current president, Lech Kaczyński (2005– ), had performed managerial functions in these favored institutions earlier in his career.
Consequently, these regulations became the loopholes by which the president could promote his “own people” into the civil service corps. To the extent there are varia- tions in recruitment and promotion procedures employed in civil service as com- pared to those utilized by local government and the NIK, these regulations are incompatible and may breach the constitutional principles of equal access.16 As of this writing, legislation is awaiting the verdict of the Constitutional Court to resolve this problem.17