Since the last WeBER monitoring cycle, no progress has been made in this policy area; instead, a slight decline has been noted. The Government neither regularly prepares nor publishes reports on the civil service, and available data are not in open formats. However, the new Law on Administrative Servants (LAS) and the Law on Public Sector Employees (LPSE), adopted on 10 July 2025, contain provisions that may improve transparency and reporting once implemented.
The use of temporary and service contract employment continues to be high, without a system in place to monitor their numbers and duration across all institutions. A positive development is the new LPSE, which restricts temporary engagements to urgent, unforeseen activities for up to 30 days. Institutions must request candidates through the public employment service, and such hires are limited to twice per year and to a maximum of 5% of staff.
Professionalisation and merit-based recruitment continue to be carried out under the previous LAS framework, with no improvements observed in this area. The newly adopted LAS is aimed at strengthening professionalisation through principles of expertise, competence, gender equality, and equitable representation. The law improves recruitment and assessment procedures, introduces mentorship, reduces job levels in categories B and G, shortens recruitment by requiring candidates to pass the Agency for Administration (АA) exam before applying, and clarifies the AA’s status. However, the actual effectiveness of the new provisions will only become evident through their implementation.
The EC’s recommendation to adopt and implement legal provisions for top management services remains unaddressed, with many senior posts still held by acting managers. The draft law is currently being prepared.
There are setbacks due to a fragmented salary system and stalled reform. Some state administrative bodies continue to bypass the common system, while most civil servants remain dissatisfied with low and unfair pay. The new LAS introduces teleworking, salary supplements to retain staff, additional pay for EU/IPA-related work, and rewards for exceptional performance. However, the prompt adoption of new legislation on public administration salaries is both essential and urgent.
The Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) should ensure the effective implementation of the newly adopted LAS and LPSE, addressing issues such as temporary and fixed-term employment and reducing administrative and f inancial burdens on job applicants. The AA should improve transparency in selection decisions and make public announcements more citizen-friendly, with clear job descriptions. Mandatory reporting obligations under the LAS must be fulfilled by the AA, the MPA, and the Ministry of Finance (MF), providing analytical, qualitative, and comparative data on recruitment, workforce planning, integrity, salaries, and related matters. Finally, priority should be given to the preparation and adoption of the Law on Senior Civil Service and the framework Law on Salaries, in order to address the politicisation of senior positions and the fragmented salary system in the public administration.
The assessment of the transparency, openness and meritocracy of public service and human resource management focuses on five critical aspects – 1) transparency of statistics and reports on civil service, 2) transparency of temporary hiring in the civil service, 3) transparency and merit principle of recruitment process, 4) merit based selection and protection of top managers from undue political influence, and 5) transparency and clarity of information on the civil service remuneration. The first aspect examines the availability of statistics or reports that cover civil service structure and key elements of civil service policy and HRM. The aspect of temporary hiring focuses on conditions and limitations for temporary hiring, while also examining the application of merit-principle and the openness and transparency of the hiring procedure. The aspect devoted to the recruitment process focuses on accessibility of vacancy announcements, existence of administrative burden, equal opportunities for external candidates in the application process, institutional support to applicants, transparency of outcomes, and citizens’ perception on the meritocracy of recruitment. When it comes to the top managers in the civil service, the emphasis is placed on merit-based nature of recruitment and appointment practices and the use of objective dismissal criteria, as well as on limitations on acting appointments, the extent to which appointments are protected from political influence in practice, and the competitiveness of procedures. Finally, the last aspect is devoted to transparency and clarity of the civil service remuneration system and the existence of citizen-friendly presentations on its main aspects. Findings of this report reflect the period since the publication of the PAR Monitor 2021/2022, starting from the second half of 2022, and until the end of 2024.