COST Action IS0601 “Comparative Research into Current Trends in Public Sector Organization – CRIPO” organises:

9th general COST - CRIPO WG and MC meeting

High-Level conference "Structuring Government in the 21st Century: Managing and Controlling Public Agencies at National and EU-level in times of Crisis"

26-27 May 2011 – Brussels (Belgium)

9.30 - 9.45

Plenary Opening of the High Level Conference “Structuring Government in the 21 st Century: Managing and Controlling Public Agencies at National and EU-level in Times of Crisis”

Welcome by Mr. Kurt Van Raemdonck, Cabinet director of the Federal Minister for Government Enterprises (Belgium) - speech in pdf

Introduction by Prof.dr. Geert Bouckaert - Chair of the Cost CRIPO Action (Catholic University Leuven, Belgium)

9.45 - 10.30

Plenary presentation of the main policy recommendations of COST-CRIPO for practitioners and policy makers on ‘managing and controlling agencies in the 21 st century' (policy recommendations in pdf) - presentation in pdf

By dr. Sandra van Thiel (Erasmus University of Rotterdam) and dr. Koen Verhoest (Catholic University Leuven)

10.30 - 10.45

Coffee Break

10.45 - 12.45

Three parallel sessions focussing on current challenges

Expert session 1 (organised by the Anglo research team): Rationalization of agencies in times of crisis

• Academic perspectives on agency rationalization: trends, challenges and responses
• Dr. Alice Moseley (Research fellow, University of Exeter) and Dr. Muiris MacCarthaigh (Institute of Public Administration, Ireland) - presentation in pdf
• A practitioners’ view on Irish experiences of agency rationalization:
• Mr. David Denny, (Sectoral Policy Division, Department of Finance, Ireland) - presentation in pdf
• A practitioners’ view on British experiences of agency rationalization:
• Ms. Paula McDonald, CBE (Deputy Director, Public Bodies and Workforce Reform) - presentation in pdf
• A Panel discussion with practitioners from central departments and agencies from the UK and Ireland
• Mr. David Denny, (Sectoral Policy Division, Department of Finance, Ireland).
• Mr. Moling Ryan (Association of Chief Executives of State Agencies, Ireland)
• Mr. Stephen Speed (Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service and Chair of the Association of Chief Executives - UK)

Expert session 2 (organised by the Nordic research team): Result control of agencies and agency performance: the Nordic way

• Opening speech by Prof. dr. Jon Pierre (University of Gothenburg)
• ‘The experiences of management by objectives and results and agency performance’ by a Nordic high-level practitioner
• Comparing Nordic ways of result control and agency performance by Assoc. Prof. dr. Morten Balle Hansen (University of Southern Denmark), and dr. Birgitta Niklasson (University of Gothenburg) - presentation in pdf
• Reaction from a Practitioners’ panel:
• Mr. Sten Heckscher, Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Administrative Court (Sweden)
• Mr. Tor Saglie, former CEO of NAV and currently research officer at the Department of  political science, University of Oslo (Norway)
• Mr. Niels Godtfredsen, Department Head, responsible for reorganizing state administration, the Danish Ministry of Finance (Denmark)
• Mr. Tuomas Pöysti, Auditor-General of Finland – President of the National Audit Office of Finland (Finland)
• General discussion

Expert session 3 (organised by the CEE research team): Politics, leadership and agencies

• Moderator: Prof. dr. Calin Hintea, University of Cluj
• Keynote speech: Prof. dr. B. Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh (USA) - presentation in pdf
• Practitioners’ panel:

• Dr. Catalin Baba, Secretary of State, Head of the Prime Minister's Office, Romania
• Dr. Dan Lazar, Secretary of State, Ministry of Finance, Romania
• Jurgita Siugzdiniene, Director of the  Strategic Coordination Department, Office of the Prime Minister, Lithuania - presentation in pdf
• Kaido Paabusk, Head of Public Administration and Public Service Deparment, Ministry of Finance, Estonia - presentation in pdf
• Dr. Miroslav Beblavý, Member of Parliament, Slovakia and Senior Research Fellow, CEPS, Brussels - presentation in pdf

12.45 - 13.45

Lunch

13.45 - 15.45

Three parallel sessions focussing on current challenges

Expert session 4 (organised by the Latin research team): Traditional and new forms of accountability of agencies towards parliament and citizens

• Academic insights on traditional and new forms of accountability: Assoc. Prof . dr. Koen Verhoest  (Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium) - presentation in pdf
• 'French autonomous public bodies and their relationship with the State' by Dr. François Lafarge (Ecole nationale d'administration, France) - presentation in pdf
• ‘Innovative forms of agency accountability to users, peers and citizens’ by Prof. Dr. Roel in 't Veld, Chairman of the Audit committee of the Charter Group for Public Accountability - presentation in pdf
• ‘Parliamentary oversight of agencies’ by Mr Jan Peumans (President of the Flemish Parliament) - speech in pdf
• A Panel discussion with practitioners from central departments and agencies, moderated by Prof. dr. Silvia Mendes (University of Minho, Portugal)

• Mr Jo De Cock, CEO of the Health Insurance Agency (Belgium)
• Mr José A. de Azevedo Pereira, Director-General of the Portuguese Taxation Administration (Portugal)

Expert session 5 (organised by the Continental research team): Happily ever after? Building long term relationships between ministries and agencies.

• Academic insights from the CRIPO team by Assoc. Prof. dr. Sandra van Thiel (Erasmus University Rotterdam) - presentation in pdf
• A practitioner’s view by Dr. Peter Grünenfelder, Chancellor of the State of Argovie, Switzerland
• Panel discussion moderated by Prof. dr. Reto Steiner (Center of Competence for Public Management, University of Bern)
• Mr. Jaap Uijlenbroek, Director-general Organization and Management of the Dutch Government (The Netherlands)
• Dr. Peter Grünenfelder, Chancellor of the State of Argovie (Switzerland) - presentation in pdf
• Mr. Gregor Wenda, Secretary-General Austrian Society of Administrative Sciences (Austria)

Expert session 6 (organised by Bocconi University): Agencies and policy networks in the European Union: challenges for an evolving mosaic

• Introduction and presentation of the research findings on the patterns of networking in EU Agencies, by Prof. Edoardo Ongaro, Dario Barbieri and Nicola Bellé, Bocconi University and SDA Bocconi School of Management - presentation in pdf
• Challenges for agencies and agency development: interventions by Dr. Pablo Amor, European Research Council-Executive Agency (ERCEA), Mrs Madlen Serban, European Training Foundation (ETF); Mr Dante Storti, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
• Policy networks and EU agencies in the ‘everyday administration’ of European policies: the perspective of high-level civil servants – interventions by Mrs Cesira D’Aniello (General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union); Mr Mario Paulo Tenreiro (European Commission), Mr Eoin O'Shea (European Court of Auditors)
• Open debate and conclusions (moderated by prof. Edoardo Ongaro)

15.45 - 16.00

Coffee break

16.00 17.15

Plenary panel discussion , moderated by Prof. dr. Geert Bouckaert: ‘How to govern public agencies in the 21st century: challenges and solutions’

• Mr Mark Andries, Cabinet Director of Minister Geert Bourgeois, Vice –minister-president of the Flemish Government and Minister of Governmental Affairs
• Mr. Andrew Davies, (Senior Counsellor in the Director’s Office) OECD, France
• Mr Heiki Loot, Secretary of State (Head of Government Office) in Estonia
• Prof. dr. Guy Peters, University of Pitssburgh, USA
• Mr Maroš Šefčovič  (Vice-President and Commissioner in charge for Inter-institutional Relations and Administration)

17.15 - 17.30

Concluding remarks by Prof. dr. Per Laegreid (University of Bergen) and Dr. Julia Stamm, director of the ISCH Program - COST Office

17.30

End of the High-Level conference on Agencies