State Reform: Mission (IM) Possible
On several occasions I have already had the opportunity to write and reflect on the reform of public administration and the state, and always identified it as ‘the’ priority within the very necessary structural reforms. The reconciliation of the state with the citizen (or the citizen with the state) is essential in a time marked by distrust. Therefore, the creation of the state reform portfolio, delivered to Gonçalo Saraiva Matias in the XXV Constitutional Government, is a sign that Portuguese politics is finally to seriously assume the urgency of the structural transformation of public administration. This decision meets a broader movement that also crosses European institutions: the conviction that it is time to pass from words to action in the fight against bureaucracy and the construction of a state – and a union – more agile, efficient and close to citizens.
The new minister, with a solid academic and civic profile, now has in his hands one of the most difficult and structuring missions of governance. But you are not alone in this effort. At the European level, we also face the challenge of simplifying the legislative process and reducing the weight of the regulatory complexity that choke citizens, companies and institutions. The current European Commission made the bureaucracy a priority axis of its mandate, with concrete results.
One of the best examples of this is the so -called ‘Omnibus’ legislative packages, which have been adding dispersed rules and suppressing redundancies and inconsistencies. These initiatives, which I closely follow in the European parliament, are not only symbolic: they represent a cultural change in the way the EU legislates, regulating less but better. It is this same spirit that should also guide state reform in Portugal.
Over the past few years in the European Parliament, I have always taken the lead in the fight against bureaucracy. I did it with concrete proposals, firm positions and a sense of urgency that was not always welcomed from the left. Ideological resistance to administrative simplification still persists in certain sectors, how to reform was synonymous with weakening the state. However, there is today a growing consciousness – to the left – that excessive bureaucracy is costing jobs, locking investment and compromising European economic growth. British Prime Minister Keir Strmer himself identified the fight against bureaucracy as a priority to relaunch the economy of the United Kingdom. This is, therefore, a purpose that should exceed party trenches and occupy a central place in the national and European political agenda.
Portugal cannot continue to be the country where the citizen has to prove to the state what the state already knows. The modern and up -to -date functioning of public administration is not only reached with more technology, but with less complexity. Deep process review, greater interoperability between services, less paper-and more confidence in the citizen is required.
Just as Europe is moving towards a new regulatory culture, Portugal cannot be left behind. State reform is not a technical luxury, it is a political urgency. A lighter state in form, but stronger in the function, will always be a fairer, more effective – and more worthy of the confidence of the Portuguese. L
MEP PSD
