High quality, capable and resilient public institutions are key for shaping the sustainable competitiveness of economies and the well-being of citizens. Within the European Union, public administrations translate Union policies and legislation into concrete actions. The capacity to tailor these actions into well-designed reforms and investments helps create public value and increase trust.
This is a journey rather than a specific destination. In times of poly-crisis, public administrations need continuous modernisation. The European Commission has introduced the ComPAct, to help develop a stronger European Administrative Space by promoting overarching principles of quality public administration and strengthening peer learning and cooperation between public administrations.
Building on this, the Toolbox seeks to inspire and guide public administrations. It offers an online platform for sharing knowledge. It can help Member States to address country specific recommendations under the European Semester, to implement reforms and investments under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and to strengthen the Rule of Law.
Local context is critical: each Member State has its own legal, institutional and cultural background. There is no ‘one size fits all solution’ for building quality administrations but public officials or practitioners can use the Toolbox to find inspiration for building customised solutions at home.
How to navigate the toolbox
The Toolbox consists of webpages with useful information and illustrative practices as applied in real situations. The centrepiece is its 10 main themes, each of which includes a general introduction to the subject that leads you to a series of sub-themes and topics.
Two cross-cutting themes make the case for modernisation in the context of the twin transition, setting the scene and providing links to relevant topics, tools and examples across the Toolbox.
- Setting out EU policy and initiatives, namely directives, regulations, studies, reports, communications, agendas, and funding programmes
- Summarising other relevant studies and speeches that the reader may find interesting in support of policy and practice in other boxes.
These examples intend to generate ideas and innovations by pointing to promising practices that readers might adopt and adapt to their own situations. They are not claimed to be ‘best practices’, although many country examples have been awarded honours under the European Public Service Award (EPSA) and the Council of Europe’s ‘Crystal Scales of Justice’ Prize. Other sources include studies and databases published by the European Commission, EU-funded initiatives such as the Technical Support Instrument, the Expert Group on Public Administration and Governance, and the OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI).
The text is designed to steer you through these examples and highlight the most interesting lessons and tips that might be transferable to your circumstances. You will find hyperlinks and [footnotes] throughout the Toolbox to guide you towards further information. You can easily find your own path through the Toolbox by clicking on the links in the webpages to ‘jump’ to a topic of interest or a country case.
The Toolbox is developed under the European Public Administration Country Knowledge (EUPACK) initiative led by SG REFORM. It represents the joint efforts of the European Commission’s Inter-Service group on Public Administration Quality and Innovation (IGPA) comprising relevant Commission services. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use that might be made of the Toolbox.
Send us your feedback or proposals for cases to be included at EC-PAG-TOOLBOX
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EC-PAG-TOOLBOX[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).