Remarks by EU Commissioner Hahn at the European Public Administration Network (EUPAN) Ministerial meeting

Remarks at the EUPAN Ministerial meeting

Dear colleagues,

I am delighted to be here today at the opening of a Ministerial meeting – with colleagues from all over Europe. This EUPAN is an excellent opportunity to discuss how we can make our European public administrations fit for the future. Because, as administrations, we are at the heart of managing the challenges in a changing world.

I would like to thank the Belgian Presidency and Petra de Sutter personally for making this possible.

I firmly believe that by joining forces, we all do better when facing today's complex challenges for our administrations. This is why we need such political meetings, regularly - at least once every year.

When I started as a Commissioner in charge of Budget and Administration, I would never have imagined the challenges our European public administrations would have to face: from the radical changes in our workplace due to COVID-19 to Russia's brutal war at our doorstep with all its implications, such as the unprecedented energy crisis and constant cybersecurity threats.

We have all had to adapt, learn the value of agility and implement strategies to ensure modern and resilient organisations.

In practice, this means: our European public administrations have become more flexible, green, and digital. In this context, the Commission adopted – as many of you – a new Human Resources strategy: to ensure we could respond to the challenges we face and keep delivering on our priorities at the service of EU citizens.

And almost two years since adoption, I am proud of our achievements in moving the organisation in the right direction and making it fit for the future.

• We are putting people first, emphasising on an environment which supports staff well-being and fosters inclusion and respect.
• We are prioritising agility and flexibility in response to ongoing challenges.

→ through initiatives such as mobility and flexible organisational structures.

• We are embracing digitalisation/ reinforcing a trust-based management culture.

→ through flexible hybrid working, including a right to disconnect.

• We are greening the Commission in the context of The Green Deal

→ our target is to become climate neutral by 2030.

All these are common challenges. And our network, the EUPAN, has been invaluable for collaboration on these critical issues as a source of inspiration and innovation.

Working together will help us to find better solutions. It will help us deliver a more effective and efficient service. Even with limited resources, it will help us tackle common challenges by turning them into joint opportunities.

One of these challenges we turned to our advantage is the digital and technological advancement, allowing us to continue being very productive even during the pandemic.

Currently, we see how AI revolutionises our lives – and as administrations, we have to use it to the service of people. We can benefit from AI to automate repetitive tasks and to free valuable human resources for more rewarding tasks. We can improve effectiveness and efficiency and the speed of decision-making. But we need to frame in the right way these new tools keeping human quality control.

The future of public services is data-driven and AI-enabled. It is also a future we share. Therefore, we can use our truly European asset: interoperability. Thus, our Interoperable Europe Act translates our European idea of finding better solutions together into the digital age. It establishes cooperation in the public sector across the EU.

Working together is our strength – also when it comes to Cybersecurity. Together, we are much more robust to defend ourselves against attacks on all levels. This is also a good example that EUPAN and Digital belong together. I would very much welcome more – and structural! –- cooperation between EUPAN and the Chief Information Officers Network, for example on the new Interoperable Europe Board.

Being digital, flexible, green, inclusive, and thus modern administrations will help us to improve our “branding”. Our mission is to create attractive, inclusive and dynamic public administrations – in order to tackle societal change with the best possible service for the people.

I am delighted to work with you on this vision: to attract the most talented and diverse candidates while creating innovative and stimulating workplaces.

In this context, the Belgian Presidency brought forward a helpful tool to support our HR policymaking. The European HR scorecard will allow us to make the best use of the data and work together to identify - what is working well and in what areas we need to do more. It will also help us to learn from each other's best practices.

Over the past few years, we have advanced considerably this shared ambition to support the mobility of European civil servants, helping us ensure a common approach to public policy issues in Europe. I cannot stress enough how important mobility and exchanges are among us: to understand each other, to learn from each other, and bring forward our administrations – together.

It is also essential to have those exchanges on all levels as peers – on European, national, local and regional levels. In an increasingly global and interconnected world, we face a particular challenge to adapt to these global systems while also meeting local needs. An increased focus on local and regional exchanges will help us understand the challenges we all face at a level closest to our people.

I would love to discuss all of this with you. Unfortunately, I cannot be here tomorrow as I have to attend the European Parliament's debate on the Midterm Review of our long-term budget, which is crucial for our Union's capabilities to answer future challenges. My team will report back to me – so we can continue working together.

I wish you many inspiring discussions tomorrow and fully endorse the Ghent declaration.

Many thanks again to the Belgian Presidency for giving us this excellent opportunity to deepen our cooperation on these crucial issues which impact us all.