Prishtina, 19 December 2024
The First Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Development and Dialogue of the Republic of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, participated in the presentation of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo’s approach to the Administrative Burden Prevention and Reduction Program 2025-2028. This Program will be one of the key documents in reducing administrative burden, alongside the Electronic Governance Strategy 2023-2028.
On this occasion, Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi said it was an honour and a pleasure to open this roundtable and present the commitment of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo to an efficient public administration in service to the citizens. He further stated that it is an opportunity to discuss the Administrative Burden Prevention and Reduction Program, a key document towards the modernization and improvement of public services.
“As a country, we are going through a dynamic phase of development. In this context, public administration reform is a crucial step towards modernization and sustainable economic improvement. “What we aim for is building a responsible public administration, a transparent public administration and a public administration that has the ability to create a favourable environment for both citizens and businesses”, said the Deputy Prime Minister.
He went on to highlight that annual analyses and calculations show that, both centrally and locally, approximately 3.5 million Euro have been saved for citizens and businesses within one year.
The Deputy Prime Minister thanked our main partners, such as the Government of Germany, the Government of Switzerland, the European Union and the civil staff at both central and local levels for their professionalism and dedication.
“Finally, I would like to reaffirm the commitment of our Government to push this process forward, to increase its intensity and to complete it with as much success as possible”, he concluded.
Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi’s full speech:
Dear Mr. Madsen,
Honorable Ambassador Rohde,
Honorable Ambassador Sprecher,
Distinguished representatives of diplomatic offices and embassies present in Kosovo,
Distinguished representatives of civil society, public institutions and the private sector,
It is my special pleasure to open this roundtable and present the commitment and dedication of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo to an efficient public administration in service to the citizens. Today’s roundtable is an excellent opportunity for us to jointly discuss the Administrative Burden Prevention and Reduction Program, an important document towards the modernization and improvement of the range of public services provided.
As a country, we are going through a dynamic phase of development. In this context, public administration reform is a crucial step towards modernization and sustainable economic improvement. What we aim for is building a responsible public administration, a transparent public administration and a public administration that has the ability to create a favourable environment for both citizens and businesses.
Following the adoption of the Administrative Burden Prevention and Reduction Program, 2022-2027, under the supervision of my Office and the operational coordination of the Office for Strategic Planning, a series of results have been achieved. For example, the Country Report regarding the process of reducing administrative burden concludes that the implementation of the Program has shown advanced progress. In the evaluation that SIGMA from the OECD carries out for service delivery in its 2024 Monitoring Report, out of a possible 15 points, it awarded the full 15 points when it comes to reducing administrative burden or the progress made in reducing administrative burden.
In the growth plan, we have negotiated with the European Union, and the administrative burden process is treated as an important reform, meaning that for the successes we achieve in this direction, we are also rewarded with financial funds from the European Union. At the same time, we are working to integrate the process of reducing administrative burden into the Municipal Performance Grant with appropriate indicators, using this as an incentive for municipalities to simplify their municipal services.
So far, 550 officers, both at the central and local levels, have been trained, enabling more successful implementation of the service design methodology. Additionally, over 200 legal acts and more than 30 concept documents have been reviewed, ensuring the prevention of administrative burden and the readiness of institutions for the digitalization of their services.
These achievements constitute important elements when talking about the sustainability and structural discipline for both the prevention and reduction of administrative burden, aiming for as quick and efficient a reduction as possible.
Allow me now to speak about a few other accomplishments in this process. A total of 80 services have been simplified in various ministries and 300 services at the local level, primarily in 15 municipalities. The focus has been on both reducing procedures and reducing the documents required, which not only makes the work of citizens and businesses easier but also streamlines the work of the institutions handling these requests.
The digitalization of 12 services for free professions and 6 surveying services has been completed and these are now available on the eKosova platform. Additionally, 27 services from the Food and Veterinary Agency and 20 customs services have been submitted for the final exhibition on eKosova, which we expect to be made available soon.
I would like to emphasize that this has been done thoroughly, meaning that not only have services been sent for digitalization and exhibition, but we have also made sure to carry out the necessary legal amendments.
The digitalization of services related to driving schools, architects, engineers, diploma recognition, grants and subsidies in culture, agriculture and health chambers is also under finalization.
At the same time, the Tax Residency System within the Kosovo Tax Administration will soon be launched, and the Employment Services System offered by the Employment Agency is also in its final stages.
Among other things, within transparency and accountability, the eTransparency portal and the Supplier Registration System in the Ministry of Finance, Labour and Transfers, as well as the Case Management System in the Information and Privacy Agency, are being finalized so that all requests and complaints regarding access to public documents can be made entirely digitally.
Annual analyses and calculations show that simplifying and eliminating these requests, documents and procedures, both at the central and local levels has resulted in savings of approximately 3.5 million Euro for both citizens and businesses within a single year.
These achievements, which are concrete steps towards an efficient, digital administration at the service of citizens, highlight the importance of this process. Now, I would like to briefly discuss the goals we have for the 2025 and beyond. We want the level of trained municipal and local officers to reach the limit of 1000.
We want to ensure that by 2025, all concept documents and legal acts will be reviewed to prevent any new administrative burdens in new policies or simultaneously allow for the reduction of this burden in any amendments made.
We aim to digitize over 100 new services using the administrative burden methodology and work on simplifying approximately 500 administrative procedures at both the central and local levels.
All of this will be in full alignment with the principles outlined in our National Development Strategy, the Electronic Governance Strategy, and the Public Administration Reform Strategy.
Additionally, an important aspect of this process for us is the integration of gender equality.
With our initiative, several municipalities have already removed the fees for property legalization for women, directly impacting savings as well as increasing the percentage of properties owned by women. I remind you that the fee is quite high, at 1.70 Euro per square meter.
Next year, we will also begin the full digitalization of the procedures for grants and subsidies allocated to women and we will do this in cooperation with the Agency for Gender Equality. Among other things, the Program will include many activities that help improve services focused on women. The success of these reforms is fully achieved and is the result of the good cooperation we have had with civil society, the private sector and our development partners.
This partnership is considered essential on our part, in order to further advance this process. Through the Office for Strategic Planning, we are continuously working with many civil society organizations. I would mention a few of them: The German-Kosovar Business Association, the Group for Legal Political Studies, Democracy Plus, Open Data Kosovo, the GAP Institute, Indep and many others, which advocate for the concrete implementation of the Program and their suggestions have always been addressed with caution.
I would also like to take this opportunity to especially thank our main partners: the German Government, which has provided support through GIZ, the Swiss Government through the Investment Climate Improvement Project, and, of course, the European Union, represented here in Kosovo.
Furthermore, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the civil service staff, both at the central and local levels. Without their dedication and professionalism, we would not have been able to achieve such success in this process of reducing administrative burden and digitalization. In particular, I would like to publicly thank the coordinator of this process, Mr. Kushtrim Canolli from the Office of the Prime Minister.
Finally, I would like to reaffirm our Government’s commitment to moving this process forward, increasing its intensity and completing it with as much success as possible.
Thank you very much!
Last modified: December 27, 2024