The event began with some opening remarks by Pedro Navarro, Executive Vice President of the Board of Trustees of Fundació ESADE. Óscar Cortés Abad, Vice President of the ESADE Alumni Public Management Club, then took the floor to explain the objectives of the new club: ‘To serve as a forum in which to debate, reflect, and compare the views of scholars and alumni with regard to the public sector.’ Rafael Catalá Polo, Director of ESADE’s Executive Master in Public Administration (EMPA), then introduced the guest speaker.


Ms. Del Palacio began her talk by mentioning the growing influence of government agencies in recent years, which has gone against many of the dominant proposals of the 1980s calling for a quantitative and qualitative scaledown. ‘In recent years, not only has the scope of government activity not been reduced, but in some cases it has actually grown larger,’ she noted. Ms. Del Palacio acknowledged that government agencies ‘have changed their way of operating, their presence in society and their action parameters’. She insisted that government agencies ‘must remain a fundamental instrument for the organisation of society’.


Ms. Del Palacio then observed that the various new formulas for government activity ‘tend to combine public and private paradigms’, and added that this phenomenon can be observed in the increasingly frequent externalisation of services and in public-private cooperation. At the same time, she noted, the new models encourage the participation of citizens and companies: ‘This means that we have moved past the neo-liberal proposals of the 1980s.’ She added that lawmakers have abandoned the hierarchical model in favour of a competence-based scheme in which regulations are adapted to a different, consensus-based reality. This approach to governance, she noted, ‘requires a balance between public and private’.


Ms. Del Palacio also commented on the impact on government agencies brought about by various changes, including the incorporation of supranational organisations, the complex system of regional distribution, and new state services such as disability benefits. She also highlighted the new public-administration model, in which ‘transactions form the cornerstone of our actions’. This new model moves beyond the previous hierarchical system - whose structures tended to multiply - ‘by seeking to better respond to the demands of the citizens’. Today, she said, ‘we have an asymmetrical, transactional administration, with more people assigned to the various sectors and a broad range of functions’.


Ms. Del Palacio mentioned some of the Spanish Government’s goals for this term of office, some of which build on initiatives introduced last year: regulatory reform, including the development of a new Basic Statute for Public Employees, as well as organisational and procedure-related reforms. She highlighted one recent initiative, the Law on Electronic Access to Public Services, calling it ‘extraordinarily important’ for a complex country like Spain. According to Ms. Del Palacio, this law requires all government agencies and public bodies to establish a common technological infrastructure. Thanks to this law, ‘Spain’s inter-agency network is now the European Union’s best in terms of capacity and scope.’ In addition, the law created a cultural change ‘by introducing a one-stop-shop model’ that facilitates access to various services.


Ms. Del Palacio then discussed the cultural transformation brought about by the administrative-responsibility controls, the plan to reduce bureaucratic fees for citizens and companies, and regulatory changes including a new law, slated to take effect in the coming months, ‘which will respond to the changing relationship between the government and the citizenry’. She insisted that ‘the government of the future must, above all, make life easier for its citizens’. She wrapped up her talk by adding that ‘we must therefore change the laws that regulate the core of the administration in order to apply the innovative laws that are being developed right now’.

Programme

Welcome session and introduction
Carlos Losada, Director General of ESADE.


Lecturers:

Rafael Catalá Polo, Director of the ESADE Executive Master in Public Administration (EMPA)

Óscar Cortés Abad, Vice-President of the ESADE Alumni Public Management Club


Lecture: "Administration and users: Moving towards new forms of relationships"

Mercedes Elvira del Palacio Tascón, Civil Service Secretary General, Ministry of Civil Service

A glass of Spanish wine will be served to round off the event.