4.2. Responsibilities of centres of government in policy co-ordination

The Centre of Government (CoG) supports the head of government and the Cabinet of Ministers in organising the work of government and in policy co-ordination. In order to ensure this, the CoG provides the necessary mechanisms for senior political staff and civil servants to hold relevant policy discussions.

In the Western Balkans, policy co-ordination takes place mostly in formal instances (such as cabinet meetings) rather than in informal ones (such as ad-hoc meetings of senior officials). By contrast, OECD-EU and OECD countries prioritise informal instances, such as ad-hoc meetings of senior officials and task forces.

Regarding formal co-ordination, all Western Balkan CoGs use regular cabinet meetings as a means of ensuring policy co-ordination, which is largely consistent with the practice in OECD-EU countries. In 83% of economies in the Western Balkan region, ad-hoc cabinet discussions on a specific policy or issue are used, while this is the case in 71% of OECD-EU countries. Albania’s CoG uses integrated policy management groups (IPMG), as a mechanism to co-ordinate policy across government priority areas.

Written guidance (such as instruction manuals, guidelines on procedures), as an instrument for co-ordination is used in 83% of economies in the Western Balkan region, while this is only the case in 52% of OECD-EU countries. These results suggest that they prefer a rules-based approach to co-ordination.

Regarding informal co-ordination, in 67% of the Western Balkan region, ad-hoc meetings of senior officials to discuss a particular issue to support cabinet-level discussions take place, compared to 81% OECD-EU countries. Ad-hoc task forces are less common in the Western Balkans than among OECD-EU, where 76% have them. In Kosovo a task force was established for the demarcation of the border with Montenegro. In Serbia, examples include a joint group for improving the country’s position in the World Bank Doing Business Report.

Agenda items submitted to the cabinet for discussion and approval are expected to be final, hence all the CoGs (both from the Western Balkan region and OECD) review that standards and procedures for presentation and preparation are respected, and have the right to return the agenda item for additional work.

CoGs in the Western Balkan region are also responsible for reviewing whether the item has been subject to adequate consultation, and have the authority to require further work. In North Macedonia, the Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MISA) is also responsible for this. Reviewing if the item is in line with the government programme is among the CoG’s tasks. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it presents a non-binding opinion, which implies that the CoG is not fully responsible for curating the items presented before the cabinet.

Reviewing if a regulation meets regulatory quality standards (for example, that cost-benefit and impact analyses have been carried out) is the responsibility of the CoG in Albania, Kosovo and Serbia; although, in the first two, it presents a nonbinding opinion. In North Macedonia, MISA performs quality control for regulatory impact assessments. By comparison, in 81% of OECD countries, the CoG performs such checks. When reviewing adequate costing, the ministry of finance takes the lead in the Western Balkan region. Only one-third of CoGs are involved in this, compared to around 60% of OECD countries. In general, quality is still a concern in many Western Balkan economies when it comes to analysing the impacts of new regulations and policies, despite having formal systems of ex-ante impact analysis (OECD/SIGMA, 2017).

Methodology and definitions

Data were collected via the 2019 OECD Questionnaire for the Western Balkans on Organisation and Functions of the Centre of Government and the 2017 OECD Survey on Organisation and functions of the Centre of Government. Data for OECD refer to 33 respondent countries, and data for the OECD-EU refer to 21 countries. Respondents were senior officials who provide direct support and advice to heads of government and the council of ministers or cabinet and provided information for the year 2019.

The CoG is the body that serves the head of government and the Council of Ministers (e.g. Cabinet Office), as well as the office that specifically serves the head of government (e.g. Prime Minister’s Office). This report uses a narrow definition, focusing on the functioning of the main institutions within the core centre of the executive branch. For a disclaimer on the difference with SIGMA reports, see previous section.

Further reading

OECD/SIGMA (2017), Monitoring reports, OECD Publishing, Paris: http://www.sigmaweb.org/publications/monitoring-reports.htm

Figure notes

Because of the complex constitutional setup, the CoG’s functions in Bosnia and Herzegovina are performed by several levels of administration. For Bosnia and Herzegovina’s results are based on consolidated responses received from the State level, the two entities and Brčko District (for disaggregation see StatLinks).

4.3. The State level of BiH is the only one that does not use ad-hoc cabinet discussions. Written guidance in BiH, is used by the State level and by the Republika Srpska. Republika Srpska is the only level that uses ad-hoc meetings of senior officials and ad-hoc task forces.

4.4. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the CoG also reviews whether a regulation meets regulatory quality standards.

4.3. Main institutional instruments or initiatives used by the centre of government to ensure policy co-ordination, 2019

Source: OECD(2019) Questionnaire for the Western Balkans on Organisation and Functions of the Centre of Government; OECD (2017), OECD Survey on Organisation and functions of the Centre of Government.

 StatLink https://doi.org/10.1787/888934128897

4.4. Involvement of centre of government and other bodies in reviewing items sent to Cabinet, 2019
Country	That procedures for preparation and presentation are respected		That the proposed item has been subject to an adequate consultation process		That the item is in line with the Government Programme		Quality of legal drafting and legal conformity		That a regulation meets regulatory quality standards	That adequate costing has been carried out
	Reviewed by…	Authority of CoG…	Reviewed by…	Authority of CoG…	Reviewed by…	Authority of CoG…	Reviewed by…	Authority of CoG…	Reviewed by…	Reviewed by…
Albania	●		●		●		●◆		●	●◆
Bosnia and Herzegovina	●		●		●		●◆		◆	◆
Kosovo	●		●		●		●		●◆	●◆
Montenegro	●		●		●		●		◆	◆
North Macedonia	●		●◆		●		●		●◆	◆
Serbia	●		●		●		●		●◆	◆
Western Balkans Total
● CoG Reviews	6		6		6		6		4	2
arrow1 … Has authority to return		6		6		4		5
… Presents non-binding opinion		0		0		1		1
◆ Reviewed by another body	0		1		0		2		5	6
OECD-EU Total
● CoG Reviews	21		20		19		17		17	12
arrow1 … Has authority to return		15		10		8		11
… Presents non-binding opinion		1		4		4		3
◆ Reviewed by another body	0		2		2		9		8	14
OECD Total
● CoG Reviews	33		30		28		27		27	20
arrow1 … Has authority to return		23		17		12		18
… Presents non-binding opinion		1		7		6		5
◆ Reviewed by another body	0		4		4		13		13	23
Source: OECD(2019) Questionnaire for the Western Balkans on Organisation and Functions of the Centre of Government; OECD (2017), OECD Survey on Organisation and functions of the Centre of Government.
StatLink https://doi.org/10.1787/888934128916