Information is spreading from the Parliament’s Bureau session that the “Georgian Dream” party reviewed and passed with 79 votes in the third reading, through expedited procedure, amendments to the “Law on Public Service”. Documentation reflecting the changes is available on the Parliament’s website.
Based on publicly available information, it is known that the legislative changes will significantly weaken the independence and stability of civil servants, while persons employed in mid-level managerial positions will no longer be required to know the Georgian language. Specifically:
- According to the changes, persons employed in mid-level managerial positions in public service (for example, department head, deputy and others – specifically “head of primary structural unit of public institution and their deputy”) can be dismissed from service at any time with 1 month’s notice, as they are no longer considered “civil servants” (instead of civil servant status, they will become “persons employed under administrative contract”).
- In turn, a “person employed under administrative contract” is appointed for the term of the political official (for example, such as minister’s advisor or assistant, who changes with the minister’s change and does not enjoy the job stability characteristic of civil servants, which is one of the important prerequisites for their political independence) – see Article 3, subsection “z”.
- Since persons employed under administrative contract are not required by law to know Georgian language and have civil servant certification, consequently – persons employed in managerial positions in public service (such as department head and their deputies) no longer need to know Georgian language, as their contract changes from civil servant status to precisely the status of person employed under administrative contract.
In summary, it can be said that with these changes, it is possible that when a minister is dismissed, all department heads and deputies of the same ministry can be dismissed along with them. At the same time, department heads and deputies are no longer required to know Georgian language (as they will be employed under administrative contract).
In practice, this means that mid-level civil servants are vulnerable to political influence and pressure, and can be dismissed from service at any time – including for political reasons. Such changes are alarming – especially in the context when at least 3,500 civil servants and people working in state-funded institutions are protesting on one hand, the decision of the ruling party on suspension of negotiations with the European Union, and on the other hand, systemic violence against peaceful protest participants.
- The changes affected other articles as well. For example, “reorganization” has been removed from the list in Article 52, which means that during reorganization there is no longer an obligation to employ staff in another unit.
- According to changes in Article 53, employee evaluation will occur once every 6 months – not once a year. At the same time, it becomes possible to review employee evaluation in 1 month and withhold 20% of salary. This essentially means the possibility of monthly evaluation, which further reduces guarantees of civil servants’ political independence.
- The amendments also contradict the 2015 decision of the Constitutional Court of Georgia. Specifically, according to the amendments, in case of unlawful dismissal, only 3 months’ compensation for lost wages is provided, which contradicts several international agreements – including the standards established by the International Labor Organization.
At the same time, other potential risks should be considered: in 2022 alone, it is known that more than 3,000 citizens of Russian Federation also received Georgian citizenship. If they are no longer required to know Georgian language, theoretically, nothing prevents them from being employed in mid-level public service positions and obtain access to sensitive information. In the context of occupation of Georgia by Russia, this may pose additional risks.
These changes contradict European principles of public administration, among which one of the main ones emphasizes the necessity of political neutrality in public service – which among other things requires employment stability and predictability (specifically, mechanisms for contract termination that allow political officials to arbitrarily terminate employee contracts are inadmissible). At the same time, Article 16 of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation R2000/6 indicates that termination of civil servant contracts should only be possible in cases provided by law and civil servants should be protected from abuse of power by political officials.
Weakening civil servant status in this form essentially damages the achievements that were implemented as part of public service reform since 2014, on which tens of millions GEL were spent. These changes may threaten the European integration process as well, because according to Article 4 of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Georgia, Georgia is obligated to:
“Continue public administration reform and create an accountable, efficient, effective, transparent and professional civil service.”
At the same time, information spread in society about removing Georgian language from mandatory criteria caused great criticism in society, citizens recalled the events of April 1978, when up to 20’000 citizens protested the Communist Party’s attempt to remove constitutional status of the Georgian language.
In parallel with the ongoing protests in Georgia, which involve thousands of civil servants, the simplification of the process of dismissing civil servants is particularly alarming and raises fundamental questions about the government’s attempt to potentially use the Law on Public Service for political persecution.
