The reform of Hungarian public administration was presented in London at a prominent international forum: a conference of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

At the invitation of the OECD, Marcell Biró, Minister of State for Public Administration at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, introduced the Hungarian public administration reforms, their results so far and planned measures. His audience comprised public administration leaders from Member States and representatives of 34 countries at the annual meeting staged by the international organisation.

Minister of State Biró spoke of the restructuring and deregulation of the public administration system and the results expected from the simplification of public administration procedures. He said that the Government’s aim is to bring the state and public administration closer to people, and one of the tangible developments in this process is that so-called ‘government windows’ will be opened in a further 300 locations across the country by 2014. At each of these centres citizens can arrange official matters in a single office closer to their places of residence.

The OECD had previously taken note of Hungarian public administration reforms and indicated that it would gladly cooperate with the Hungarian government. A strategic agreement formalises professional cooperation between the international body and the Ministry, according to which there will be close cooperation in strategic planning, the streamlining of public administration procedures, the fight against corruption and methodology for internal governmental coordination. Compared to public administration programmes in other countries, the OECD sees Hungary’s Magyary Public Administration Development Programme to be exceptional, in that it is far-reaching and comprehensive, and can therefore provide others with valuable know-how.

Background and further details of the Programme: http://magyaryprogram.kormany.hu/index

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)