The importance of public consultation in the process of making public [627483]

The importance of public consultation in the process of making public
policy for the mountain area, as a fundamental element
of the quality of the governance act

Author: BACIU ELENA GABRIELA
Institution and adress: Centrul de Economie Montană
Strada Petreni 49, Vatra Dornei
[anonimizat]

Summary:

The curent work aims to highlight some relevant aspects to the efficient management of public policies,
based on the necessary conditions for the good functioning of the public administration, namely the
principle of good governance, the principle of prioritizing public policies, the principle of considering
several public policy options , the principle of predictability of the impact of public policies, the principle
of continuity and coordination of public policies, the principle of participation / consultation.

The public administration in Romania faces two major challenges: the first is related to the need to
increase the efficiency of the management of public policies such as: social, health, tax policy, the second
is related to the adoption of new policies, in line with the established directions by the European Union,
such as: regional policy, cohesion policy for mountain regions, territorial development policy, etc.

Under these circumstances, a good understanding of the public policy making mechanism, of the
principles to be considered, especially the consultation with all stakeholders, is a fundamental element in
ensuring the quality of the governance act.

Key words : public policy, mountainous area, consultations, efficient management eficient of
administration, quality of governance act

INTRODUCTION

The current economic situation in Romania requires that legislation to be more efficient in
achieving its policy objectives, to prove clear added value, to offer fully benefits at a minimum
cost, and provides a simple, clear, stable and predictable framework for businesses, employees
and citizens.

Starting with 2003, the Government of Romania has made efforts to establish a modern process
of public policy formulation, to support the decision-making improvement and to complement,
with appropriate justification, the activity of planning, drafting and implementation of legal
acts. To this end, it also set up an institutional framework establishing public policy units in
each ministry.

Yearlly a large number of legal acts are adopted, many of them representing successive
modifications and additions to other legal acts, which are partially implemented or, in some
cases, not at all. This proves, on the one hand, the difficulty of central public administration
institutions in addressing coherently and predictably the settlement of problems on the
governmental agenda, and on the other hand the limited use of statistical data, and of the
information in the field that can be made available by other stakeholders through consultations

2as well as impact assessments to substantiate solutions that are intended to be transposed
through draft legal acts.

At the same time, there is still a weak capacity of central public administration institutions to
plan public policies and draft legislation with significant impact, which affects the process of
preliminary impact assessment and public consultation, reducing it much as time and
possibility of analysis.

In this context, this paper analyzes the policy of the Romanian Government related to the
development of the mountain area, taking into account both the theoretical aspects of the
process of public policy elaboration and the legislative framework identified at the level of the
European Union and that adopted by the Government of Romania.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The main method used was " desk research ", using written publications, existing studies, as
well as data and information from secure and recognized websites.

Opinions and proposals that the author collected in the activity carried out within the Agency
of the Mountain Zone and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development were also
considered.

The research has been conducted by studying this issue both from theoretically point of view
and of the legal acts issues at European and national level.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The concept of public policy has a whole range of definitions, starting from the most
simplistic, namely what governments choose to do or not, up to the instrumental one: a course
of action with a precise purpose, pursued by an actor or a group of actors in addressing a
problem.

Among the most common definitions of public policies are:

• Public policies as names of some areas of activity: economic, social policies of a
Government;
• Policies as an expression of the general purpose or desirable state of matter: in a political
document (of a party, Government), politics is the entity's acceptance of the purpose (purpose)
of its actions;
• Policies as specific proposals: ex. government policy to support and promote the small and
medium-sized enterprise sector;
• Policies as Government Decisions: ex. Government policy on privatization of the energy
sector;
• Policies as official authorization: the tendency is to consider a policy implemented when the
related laws (law) are adopted;
• Policies as programs: government programs in a certain area are often associated with
government policies in the field;

3• Policies as products: the perception of what the Government offers (e.g. services), compared
to what it promised and / or authorized through the law-making process;
• Policies as results: reducing public policy to the results they produce has the advantage of
allowing an assessment of how the intended purpose is reflected in the results obtained;
• Policies as theories or models: all policies are based on assumptions about cause-to-effect
relationships or correlations that are considered to be significant among certain phenomena
(social, political, economic, etc.), and how these assumptions are transposed policies are based
on certain known theoretical models;
• Policies as processes: this association involves a temporal perspective of a policy that seeks to
change a particular sector / phenomenon, etc., over a period of time (usually, anticipated).
Politics vs. Policy
It is important to distinguish between the precept of "politics" and the notion of "public policy"
(policy in English). Thus, "policy" can be defined as a set of rules and procedures that ensure
the legal representation of citizens' interests through representative democracy. The main
actors in politics are political parties and politicians, elected members of Parliament and local
public administration. "Public policy" is another set of rules and procedures established at the
executive level of the public administration to ensure the achievement of politically designed
objectives. Public policy actors are decision-makers, that is, those who approve public policies,
as well as public officials who prepare these decisions, namely they develop public policies.
Thus, the elaboration of public policies is a technical and professional activity carried out by
civil servants, which is meant to support the political level in the decision-making process.

The development of public policies have to respect the following principles:

• The principle of prioritizing public policies – public policy planning is done in accordance
with Government priorities and availability of government-funded resources (financial and
human);
• The principle of considering several public policy options – more options are being
considered in the process of public policy making for the adoption and implementation of the
optimal option;
• The principle of predictability of the impact of public policies – in the process of public policy
making, the analysis of all important impact dimensions is ensured;
• The principle of continuity and coordination of public policies – in the process of drafting
new public policies it is ensured the evaluation and updating of existing public policies and
coordination with other public policy initiatives;
• Participation / consultation principle – involving stakeholders in public policy planning,
development and evaluation.

Phases of public policy making:

1. Public policy planning
2. Drafting, endorsing and approving public policies
3. Implementing, monitoring and evaluating public policies

1. Public policy planning

4The decision-making process is influenced by various public policies, which are materialized
in public policy documents, normative and legal acts.
The current system of public policies is characterized by the existence of five types of distinct
but at the same time interconnected policy documents, namely:
• The Concept is the policy document that sets out the overall vision and basic principles of
long-term development in the country. As a rule, the Governance Programme presents the
conception and vision for the development of the ruling party.
• The Strategy is a medium-term public policy document (3-5 years) and long term (6 years
and more) that defines government policy in a sector or sectors or policy fields and describes
the mechanism for achieving it.
• The Programme is a medium or long-term public policy document describing Government
policy in a single policy area. The programme is an alternative to the strategy and has a similar
structure. At the same time, the programme can be developed on the basis of a strategy to detail
some public policies.
• The Action Plan is the public policies implementation paper. The action plan may be short
and medium- term (1-2 years). The plan is drawn up after the preparation of other public policy
documents. In contrast of strategy and programme, where costs are generally estimated, the
plan should include accurate, detailed cost-per-action. The action plan shall be drafted in
tabelar form.
• The Public Policy Proposal (PPP) is the policy document to address specific public policy
issues that require an ex-ante impact analysis and if a conceptual agreement on the form of
regulatory regulation is needed. PPP is developed prior to the drafting of legal or normative
acts and the outcome of the analysis may be the need to draw up one or more legal and / or
normative acts.
Schematically, the stages of the strategic planning process and the hierarchy of public policy
documents are:

5

The stages of the strategic planning process

2. Drafting, endorsing and approving public policies

The ministries have the main role in drafting public policies. In line with their annual plans,
they formulate public policies to address one or more issues of public interest or meet one or
more set objectives.

3. Implementing, monitoring and evaluating public policies

Public policy-making process does not end once the decision is adopted but continues through
its implementation. Implementing a public policy consists of all the activities through which a
public policy option is implemented. As presented above, PPP is accompanied by an action
plan for each identified option. It usually includes a small number of activities, including:
adopting normative acts, carrying out concrete activities in accordance with the provisions of
these acts or activities that are only provided by PPP. Where appropriate, PPP activities can be
carried out by the ministry, subordinated authorities, or may be outsourced to the private sector
or non-profit organizations.
Monitoring is an indispensable activity of the public policy cycle that can be achieved both
during and at the end of public policy implementation and consists in collecting information on
how the results of implementing a particular public policy have been achieved. Monitoring
should highlight the following aspects of: institutional changes that have occurred following
the implementation of public policy; changes in the status of target groups, both during Governance
Programme
National, inter-sectoral and
sectoral public policies papers

Yearly action plan
Public policies proposals Normative and legal acts
New issues of public interest Strategic planning

6implementation and completion; implementation costs; respecting the deadlines and content of
activities under the Action Plan; delays in doing business and the reason for their occurrence .
The evaluation is the examination of the impact of public policies in relation to the objectives
proposed on the institutional agenda, using specific research methods, taking into account the
time needed for the effects of a particular public policy to be analised. The impact is analyzed
in relation to the objectives formulated in the PPP. The evaluation establishes the extent to
which the objectives have been achieved, whether the selected policy tools are still relevant
and whether public policy change is necessary.
Starting with 2003, the Government of Romania initiated a series of central public
administration reforms aimed at alignment with the "Better Regulation" agenda launched by
the European Commission in 2002, based on the Recommendations of the Report on the
Quality of Regulatory Issues developed by the "Mandelkern Group", mandated by the
European Commission to carry out this research.
According to the Mandelkern report, the principles for efficient regulation are:
• the necessity: public authorities need to assess whether or not a new regulation is needed;
• proportionality: any regulation must maintain a balance between the benefits offered and the
constraints it imposes;
• subsidiarity: taking decisions at the appropriate administrative level;
• transparency: participation of all stakeholders and their consultation in policy-making;
• responsibility;
• accessibility: regulations accessible to those to whom they are addressed;
• simplicity: easy to use and understandable regulations.
Thus, in 2006 it was adopted the Government Decision no. 870 approving the " Strategy for
Improving the System of Policymaking, Coordination and Planning of Public Policies at the
level of the central public administration ", and in 2009, the Government Decision no. 561,
approved the Regulation on Procedures, at the Government level, for drafting, endorsing and
presenting draft public policy documents, draft normative acts and other documents for
adoption / approval .
According to G.D. no. 870/2006, the public policy system is the set of institutional tools,
procedures and architecture developed to improve the quality and efficiency of the decision-
making process as a whole. To achieve this goal, in addition to good collaboration between the
political and executive levels of the administration as well as between public administration
and civil society, it is also necessary to develop the knowledge and skills of all key actors
involved in the public policy process. According to G.D. no. 870/2006, the principles that
should be take in the consideration during public policy development, are:
 The principle of participation and transparency: non-governmental organizations, the
private sector, local authorities and international institutions contribute to the process of
public policy planning. Civil society is informed about planned public policies.
 The principle of continuity and coordination – in the process of public policy planning,
both the updating of current government policies and coordination with other initiatives
are ensured.
 Principle of responsibility – public policy planning is a results-oriented process. Liability
exists at all levels of public administration.

7 Subsidiarity principle – in the process of public policy planning, the level of public
administration best suited to the implementation of a particular public policy is assessed.
 The good governance principle – according to this principle, the Government must
establish clear and effective actions based on quality objectives and be able to respond
quickly to social needs.
 The principle of cooperation and coherence – the institution involved in formulating
public policies must demonstrate its readiness to cooperate with other public institutions
as well as other civil society organizations interested in or affected by a particular public
policy initiative, thus ensuring a coherent concept the objectives to be achieved and the
measures to be taken.

The strategy approved through the Government Decision no. 870/2006 proposes reducing the
number of public policy documents and clearly defining their structure. Three types of such
documents are proposed:
• The Strategy;
• The Plan;
• The Public policy proposal.
The instruments for presentation and motivation of the draft normative acts, namely: the
explanatory memorandum, the substantiation note, the approval report, are not defined as
public policy documents.
According to GD no. 561/2009 the institutions having the right to initiate draft public policy
documents and draft normative acts with a view to adoption / approval by the Government, are:
the ministries and other specialized bodies of the central public administration, subordinated to
the Government, as well as the autonomous administrative authorities, the specialized bodies of
the central public administration subordinated or coordinated by the ministries, through the
ministries in whose subordination or coordination are the prefects, county councils, General
Council of the Municipality of Bucharest, through the Ministry of Administration and Interior.

CASE STUDY – DEVELOPMENT POLICY OF ROMANIAN MUNICIPAL
AREA

A comparative analysis of the existing public policy documents in Romania regarding the
development of the mountain area, led to the following conclusions:
At conceptual level, we have identified in the 2017-2020 Governance Programme, the Measure
10 – Programme to encourage activities in the mountanious area, under the Agricultural and
Rural Development Policies chapter. Within it there are set 5 main objectives for encouraging
activities in the mountain area, namely:

1) Protection of natural resources;
2) Balanced population density in the mountain area;
3) Increasing and preserving jobs;
4) Creating and protecting the access infrastructure;
5) Develop policies and regulations to encourage specific activities in mountain area.

8At Strategic level , on May 28, 2014, the Government adopted the Memorandum on the
approval of National Strategic Guidelines for the Sustainable Development of the Mountainous
Area for 2014-2020. The Memorandum sets out 4 National Strategic Strategic Objectives in
2014-2020 and coincides with the programming period of the European Union budget (2014-
2020), namely: 1. Increasing the economic competitiveness; 2. Increasing the attractiveness of
the disadvantaged mountainous area and stabilizing the mountain population; 3. Improving the
quality of the environmental factors and preserving the biodiversity; 4 Preservation and
valorisation of cultural resources.

At Programme level , based on the provisions of the Government Programme, a package with
standard projects was ellaborated in order to set up milk collecting and processing centers,
slaughter centers and meat processing units, mountain shepfolds, units for fruit collection and
processing forestry and aromatic plants, centers for the collection and processing of wool and
animal skins.

The Action Plan for the implementation of the project covers the period 2017-2020.

The public policy proposal resulted in the drafting of individual normative acts for each type of
center / processing unit project to be enrolled in the law-making process.

In addition to the priorities identified in the Government Programme, following consultations
with representatives of the associative sector, a series of challenges faced by farmers and
representatives of the business environment, were identifed namely: the necessity to modify the
delimitation of the mountain area, the necessity to amend Order no. 52/2017 regarding the
conditions of use of the optional quality term ‘mountain product’, in the sense of including the
associative forms as beneficiaries, the necessity to amend the provisions of the Order no.
119/2014 for the approval of Public Hygiene and Public Health Norms regarding the living
environment of the population, in order to adapt the rules regarding the compulsory distances
of the various components of the farm to households, the necessity to amend the Order no.
111/2008 on the approval of the Sanitary and Veterinary and Sanitary Norms on the procedure
of veterinary registration and food safety for the production and direct and / or retail sale of
food products of animal or non-animal origin and of production activities , processing, storage,
transportation and marketing of non-food products, in the sense of simplifying and introducing
appropriate registration rules tailored to the specificity of small farmers, investigating the
possibility of collaboration with the Local Promotion and Tourist Information Centers,
informing and raising awareness campaigns on the benefits of attestation with the optional
quality term ‘mountain product’ and on the benefits of consumption of such products.

CONCLUSIONS

Transforming government priorities into tangible, visible results requires a system of policy-
making, policies and norms based on real data and reflecting stakeholder consultation
throughout the policy cycle, from initiation to implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Participation and consultation of stakeholders in the public policy planning, development and
evaluation is crucial in making public policy, as non-governmental expertise contributes to
increasing the quality of public policies, ensuring a transparent approach, and then ensuring
external support in implementation, thus minimizing the risk of future public policy disputes
and difficulties in implementation.

9 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. MARIUS CONSTANTIN PROFIROIU, ELENA IORGA, Public Policy Handbook,
Institute for Public Policy , Bucharest, 2009
2. COSMIN STOICA, CRISTIAN MOISOIU, The Importance of Public Policies in the Socio-
Economic Development of Romania, Christian University Dimitrie Cantemir , Bucharest, 2009
3. Guide to Public Administration Institutions for Improving the Public Policy Process at Local
Level, Public Policy Unit, Ministry of Administration and the Interior, Bucharest, 2011
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of the Government, 2007
5. Memorandumul nr. 20/6941/21.05.2017 privind aprobarea Orientărilor strategice naționale
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Guvernul României, 2014
6. “Better Regulation ” agenda launched by the European Commission,
http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/better_regulation/documents/brochure/brochure_en.pdf,
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administration ”
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Government level, for drafting, endorsing and presenting draft public policy documents, draft
normative acts and other documents for adoption / approval
10. Government Decision no. 775/2005 for the approval of the Regulation regarding the
procedures for elaboration, monitoring and evaluation of public policies at central level ,
modified and completed by the Decision no. 523/2016
11. Governance Programme 2017-2020, Measure 10 – Program to encourage activities in the
mountain area , Agricultural and Rural Development Policies chapter
http://gov.ro/fisiere/pagini_fisiere/17-06-29-08-28-44Programul-de-guvernare2017-2020-2.pdf