Central European Public Administration Review (E-Journal)
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Development of eHealth in Slovenia - Critical Issues and Future Directions
Full text linkAlthough the basic informatization of the health care system was established relatively early, Slovenia still does not have an interoperable and comprehensive health information system (HIS). Fragmentation of information systems (IS) and their limited interoperability significantly compromise further development of the health care system and adversely affect the quality of health care services. Overcoming the aforementioned challenges requires the progressive implementation of eHealth project, which is one of the key long-term goals of the Slovenian public sector. The main objective of eHealth is the comprehensive integration of distributed IS and connection of a widespread network of stakeholders within the health care system. The paper presents the review of eHealth projects in Slovenia, Austria and Denmark, and provides a comparative analysis of the eHealth development in designated countries. Focusing on the Slovenian experience, the paper summarizes the main deficiencies in the current eHealth settings, and finally outlines a set of applicable guidelines for an effective development and implementation of highly intricate and complex eHealth project.
Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Cases: Are Divergences an Obstacle to Effective Access to Justice?
Full text linkTraditional court proceedings do not always offer practical and cost-appropriate way of resolving consumer disputes. Some authors consider that, in disputes between consumers and businesses, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is more effective, faster and cheaper. Insofar, consumer ADR (CADR) is seen as a useful instrument that helps consumers realize their right of access to justice. It is argued that the CADR is a flexible and faster method of enforcement of consumers’ rights, and that CADR systems provide valuable information on the needs of applicants, while preserving confidentiality and increasing consumer satisfaction. However, while praised in theory, the CADR in real life has not reached the desired levels. It seems that both sides, businesses and consumers, lack awareness of ADR schemes and their benefits. In this paper we analyze the concept of CADR through compensatory collective redress, and explore whether current legal initiatives of the European Union (EU) are ultimately contributing to increasing consumer confidence in the internal market of the EU Member States. Special attention is paid to different barriers for the development of various ADR schemes. They are reflected not only in different ADR schemes, but also in the evaluation methods used to measure efficiency of the use of the (C)ADR. The EU Directive on Consumer ADR and Regulation on Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) have attempted to set flexible rules that would assure quality of dispute resolution between entities in the EU. However, the EU initiatives so far leave many questions unanswered, in particulars the questions about supervision and financing of consumer ADR schemes, as well as the issues regarding purely internal harmonization of CADR practices. An example for considerable divergences are CADR proceedings in the neighboring Western Balkan states, such as Slovenia and Croatia
Cross-Border Cooperation and the European Administrative Space – Prospects from the Principle of Mutual Recognition
Full text linkWith the introduction of the territorial cohesion objective and under the redesign of the new cohesion policy, cross-border cooperation has become an increasingly important level of “horizontal” European integration. Representing at the same time a specific transnational pattern of the European Administrative Space (EAS), however, its practical functioning is still hindered by various factors amongst which the diverging national legal and administrative framework conditions of the participating actors represent the major obstacle with regards to the development of effective cross-border governance regimes. Based on the analysis of central challenges of practical cross-border governance, the article examines the question whether the application the principle of mutual recognition, initially developed for the free movement of goods in the non-harmonized area, could provide a basis for substantial improvement in European cross-border cooperation. Four fields ofapplication are designed, allowing for a new quality of transnational administrative cooperation and a new understanding of the laboratory role that cross-border territories might play both for the EAS and further European integration
Should Slovenia Transform the Accounting in Public Sector?
Full text linkEven before, but especially in time of financial and economic crisis, countries are facing a challenge to improve the information served by public accounting for the state budgeting purpose, most often by reforming accounting principle from cash flow into accrual. The majority of literature impose the opinion that the accrual accounting facilitates more transparent and complete review of the business activities and property of the users of public funds than cash principle does and that additionally provides more transparent budgeting. The article evaluates the pros and cons of the public sector accounting transformation in Slovenia using arguments for a simple SWOT analysis in experience of other countries, presented in the literature
Coordination for Policy in Transition Countries: Case of Croatia
Full text linkThe formulation and implementation of public policy depends on the coordination capacities. In recent decades the need for coordination has increased due to the fragmentation caused by NPM reforms, decentralisation processes, the proliferation of the cross-cutting issues, as well as increased globalisation, Europeanisation, and professionalization. The coordination problem in Croatian administration, similarly to other transition countries, is critically important but understudied. This paper is based on a preliminary research on coordination in Croatian public administration with regard to policy formulation and implementation of three policies – regional development policy, anticorruption policy and e-government policy, based on the interviews conducted with higher civil servants and public officials. A special emphasis is given to the role which various actors play in coordination, as well as the structures Government employs in order to coordinate. The research shows that the development of coordination instruments in Croatia suffers from inefficiencies and is greatly influenced by politically driven considerations
Analysis of the Set, Meaning, Range and Frequency of Lodging the Reasons for Judicial Protection Request
Full text linkThe right to a legal remedy is one of the fundamental rights, which must be provided to every party involved in the proceedings (criminal, administrative, civil) which decide on the party’s rights, obligations or legal benefits. In the field of misdemeanour law with regard to the fast track misdemeanour proceedings, the legislature refers to this remedy as the request for judicial protection. Its effectiveness at the level of the set of reasons and their frequency at lodging the request, with the aim of providing the best possible legal protection of offenders, is unexplored, and so an in-depth empirical, historical and normative research of the challenge against its lodging has been made, in particular of the range, meaning, scope and the frequency of the filing of the reasons challenging the lodging. The research established that the range of the challenging grounds for filing a request for judicial protection extends with the amendments to the Minor Offences Act and in this way provides a greater legal protection for offenders, and that most of them are filed due to a challenge on the grounds of erroneous and incomplete factual findings. This suggests that in this part of the fast track misdemeanour proceedings, most irregularities by misdemeanours authority are claimed. The results of empirical research utilizing the model of challenging the Police decisions regarding misdemeanours present the conduct of research, the methods used, as well as the baseline for a model of judicial protectionagainst the decisions of the Police regarding the Minor Offences Act de lege ferenda
Efficiency and Progressivity Measures of the Flat Tax with a Special Focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina
Full text linkThe research begins with a brief overview of the personal income taxation trends in developed and transition countries in the past thirty years. During this period, we determine that in developed countries there has been a shift from equity towards efficiency principle conducted by a reduction of top progressive personal income tax (hereafter: PIT) rates and through base broadening. For selected transition countries, we develop a theoretical benchmark model under flat tax and compare it in practice in order to measure efficiency in terms of tax neutrality. We find very few characteristics of theoretical flat tax applied in practice causing inefficiency. We also analyse the progressivity indicators as an equity enhancing measure under flat tax. Progressivity indicators are very low and are a result of the flat PIT and flat social security contributions (hereafter: SSCs). Finally, for the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), efficiency and progressivity measures can be enhanced indicating that PIT reforms should be brought together with SSCs reforms
Collective Agreement for Members of Slovenian Armed Forces: Reflections on Features of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector for the Military Profession
No full textIn the Republic of Slovenia, the military is an organization that, like elsewhere in the European Union (EU), belongs to the public sector. The military service is a part of the public service sector and treated with a single collective agreement for the public sector. Despite certain theses (Janowitz 1977, Moskos 1986, Callaghan and Kernic 2003, Garb 2008) about the growing similarity of the military profession with professions in the public sector or other civilian occupations, work in the military is unique because of the specific role of the military in society. However, the military profession has sufficient similarities with other public sector professions in peacetime circumstances, so that soldiers should be granted the right to bargain the economic conditions of their employment. Through the process of collective bargaining, either within the public sector or individually, they could ensure compensation for the restrictions and requirements contained in the work of soldiers. The most important European institutions, in terms of safety and protection of the rights in the European region, are following the trend of changes in the security environment, new tasks of the military organization, the changed nature of the military profession in the postmodern era, and defend the concept of the “citizen in uniform”. Through resolutions, recommendations and memorandums, they are following the trend of increasing demands for the equalization of the rights of soldiers with the rights of other citizens. In particular, the right of unions to organize and the right for the possibilities to negotiate conditions of employment are emphasized. In the EU, there are two approaches regarding the possibility of bargaining on the economic conditions of employment for soldiers. Both provide the possibility of obtaining a special allowance for soldiers serving the country
Environmental Taxation: New Evidence for Energy Taxes
Full text linkThe intensity of exploitation of natural resources has increased over the past decades, making environmental protection policy one of the most important priorities of government institutions. Various economic instruments, including taxation, may help policy makers in the EU meet environmental targets, among them a more secure and competitive green economy in Europe. The focus of this paper is on empirically investigating the direct effect of environmental taxes and the indirect effect of environmental expenditures sourced from environmental taxes on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the energy sector. The research applied the panel data analysis method to selected EU member states for the 1995–2010 period. The results show that the direct effect of environmental taxes on GHG emissions in the sector energy is statistically significant and negative. The indirect effects of environmental taxes resulting from environmental expenditures in the industrial and governmental sectors were found to be even stronger than the direct effect of taxes alone
Openness and Urban Governance: How Transparency Erodes Local Government
Full text linkLocal government political leaders have a hard job these days. More and more they are confronted by citizens demanding transparency and a say in the production of social goods. Challenging the hegemony of local government, they connect their resources to come up with grass roots solutions. Fear of litigation claims and an increase in the complexity of policymaking and administration and fiscal scarcity render local administrations risk averse.How to effectively structure the frontline between local government and local communities? Open and collaborative governance approaches hold the promise of developing to mediate these tensions, but what are the implications for the way local democracy, local government and local administration work? This article looks at the ugly face of trust in collaborative and open governance on the basis of a comparative casestudy from Apeldoorn (The Netherlands). The article identifies and analyses patterns of (a lack of) open governance and offers alternative models to the organization of the frontline between local government and society