Reforming is imperative!

Inspired by Fernando Pessoa, Caetano Veloso used the phrase « Navigating is necessary, living is not necessary » in one of his many pieces, « The Argonauts ». I remembered this regarding the program of the current government of Portugal, which resolved, regarding me very well, to create a new ministry, that of the State Reform, which is holder Gonçalo Matias, professor at the Faculty of Law of the Portuguese Catholic University and, since 2022, chairman of the Board of Directors and the executive committee of the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation. I believe they are heavy “arguments” so that we can believe in their abilities and competence.

Do you have an easy task ahead? Not for shadows! For several reasons, what a cast, expecting that the decision of the so -called government is not just “to see”:

The very meaning of the expression highlights the difficulty – reforming means, for example, improving, reorganizing, reformulating, correcting. Can we fulfill all these verbs without questioning instituted interests, programs designed by third parties, initiatives taken with “specific” purposes, put the cork account at zero and restart the march without running over anyone?

Improving is not complicated, let’s face it, as long as “incremental innovations” are achieved in what is done today. But is that the formula for success? In some cases, yes, in most of others, no – “disruptive” innovation, which is capable of questioning what is done because “since always did”……

Reorganizing will be the cable of the work! If we take the state organization (central and local organisms) as an example, is it true that there is overlap of skills between “portions” of organisms, which lead the citizen from Herod to Pilate to be able to solve their issues? Let us mention a concrete example: the renewal of residence authorization is possible to ask for registration services but the initial request is no longer… In this case it is already a counter of AIMA that the citizen should drive… and we all know how well, and in time, this agency works…

Reformulate? What? How do citizens’ relationship processes with the state result (to cite only the “administrative” dimension of this reform)? And what are these processes? Who intervenes in them? What resources – own and third parties – are used to ensure the level of service, if there is? Who instituted them, and based on what criteria? How is the performance of services (and people) that provides them evaluated? Do they remember, for a long time, to have spoken here of what is happening with “extraordinary support to income”? How is it possible to keep people without any response to their requests for information about the suspension of the aforementioned support for 4 months (the case I told you was “opened” in February…), however, already elapsed?

To correct is, in the first place, to assume that we have been wrong and willing to rectify, first listening to citizens, whether they are contributors, users of the NHS, courts, educational institutions, public transport. That is, we do not limit ourselves to “observing” the processes “from within”, forgetting to those who serve them… I ask, not knowing the answer: How many auscultation processes of the Portuguese (let’s, only for this purpose, forget the right to vote) were, in these various “functional areas”, carried out? How many diagnoses, studies, reports do we know and what practical results have had? And something happened because the deadlines/recommendations then formulated? And what liability is requested, and to whom, in case of failure?

The task the minister ahead is Herculea! It is enough to say that, in a simple consultation with the XXV Government website, what we find when we click on “state reform” we have only two texts: one, tells us that “state reform starts with bureaucracy front combat: simplifying processes, digitizing services and strengthening the articulation between public entities. The goal is to build a more agile, efficient and people-centered state”. Completely accordingly, but where will the minister start? The other text accounts for his inauguration, highlighting his academic background and main responsibilities so far performed in various organisms; Among them, the position of Deputy State Secretary of State and for administrative modernization in the XX Government, which may be relevant active for what is now requested. But administrative modernization is just a dimension of reform!

All this said, I think we are in the presence of a phrase that from now on one can reformulate: Living is necessary, reforming is imperative! Donate to those who hurt…!