Gov’t seeks new way to evaluate civil servants

The Administrative Reform Ministry is seeking a new way to conduct assessments of the country’s civil servants, one of a barrage of reforms demanded by Greece’s international creditors, as the implementation of the current system is being stymied by the public sector workers’ union, ADEDY, and the municipal employees’ union, POE-OTA.

According to the commitments that have been made by the leftist-led government as part of the country’s third international bailout, the assessment of Greece’s civil servants should have been completed at the end of last month.

In fact the whole process is said to be up in the air, sources say, because most ministries and state agencies have yet to submit their reports to the Administrative Reform Ministry.

According to sources, the problem is not rooted in the reluctance of most civil servants to participate in the assessment but rather in the refusal of their superiors to oversee the procedure, a stance that ADEDY and POE-OTA have encouraged.

Administrative Reform Minister Olga Gerovassili, who recently held fruitless talks with ADEDY representatives about the issue, is expected in the coming days to make a new attempt to address the deadlock which is said to have displeased Greece’s creditors.

Only a few public sector entities, notably the Tourism Ministry, have completed the assessment of all their staff and submitted the required reports.