Foreword and Acknowledgements

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the Hungarian government has started an ambitious public sector reform programme with the aim of modernising its public administration and improving service delivery to its citizens and businesses. Tight budget constraints, combined with low trust in government and in public institutions more generally, have made these reforms all the more urgent and necessary, but at the same time very challenging. While the Hungarian government succeeded in reducing its budgetary deficit, leading to its removal from the excessive deficit procedure of the European Union in 2013, the public administration in Hungary, like in many other OECD countries, is striving to meet the legitimate expectations of its citizenry for greater access, responsiveness and quality of public services and to ensure that public money is well spent.