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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
Approval and criticism in parliament committee
Wieczorek-Zeul: GATS negotiations must be transparent
The first draft modalities
Social Watch Report2003
G8-AU talks
Indias prime minister in favour of Tobin tax
Interview with Stephan Kinnemann
World population grows slower
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Approval and criticism in parliament committee
Decision taken on BMZ reform
The structural reforms crafted for the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) by senior ministry management will become operative on 7 April. That is what BMZ State Secretary Erich Stather told staff at directorate-general level meetings on 12 and 13 March. The main thrust of the reforms will lie in a reorganisation of the directorates-general by transferring divisions from one directorate-general to the other, thereby mixing more thoroughly the areas of responsibility for bilateral and multilateral cooperation. The number of directorates-general will be reduced from four to three, the directorates will get extra areas of responsibility defined along issue-based lines and a number of divisions will relocate from Bonn to Berlin (see detailed reports in D+C 2003:2, p. 49, 2003:3, p. 119). The aim of the reform package is to heighten the effectiveness and coherence of the work of BMZ. An alternative proposal put forward by the staff council was rejected by the senior BMZ management. In the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development (AwZ) of the German parliament, the reform package got a mixed reception.
The proposal presented by the staff council had sought to meet the ministry managementÕs targets not so much by remodelling the organisation as by boosting efficiency and improving coordination between the directorates-general. This would be achieved by such things as work groups and issue teams operating across directorate-general borders or by mandatory procedural rules. The proposal also recommended the creation of a new Directorate-General 5 focused on the substance of a global structural policy and would have assigned sole responsibility for multilateral development cooperation institutions to the present Directorate-General 4, which would have moved all its operations to Berlin. In a letter to State Secretary Stather, the staff council said that giving consideration to their alternative proposal could significantly increase motivation and reduce the present widespread sense of indignation and frustration.
In the end, however, the staff councilÕs proposal played no part in the senior managementÕs decision. So at the AwZ meeting on 13 February, where the reform plan was presented by Stather, there was criticism that there had not been sufficient staff participation in the reformplanning process. While the Social Democratic MPs largely expressed understanding for the top BMZ officialsÕ actions, Opposition MPs – and a few Greens, too – levelled criticism. The lack of participation, they said, undermined the purpose of the reform, which was to achieve better and more efficient cooperation within the ministry. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group also complained that the reform would further weaken bilateral cooperation in favour of multilateral action – which is frankly what the powers-that-be at BMZ intend. (ell)
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