Lower house backs replacement of Civil Service Act

After nearly eight hours of debate on Thursday, the Chamber of Deputies supported in the first reading a proposal to replace the existing Civil Service Act with a new law. The governing coalition says the new legislation on state employees would make it easier to replace senior officials and increase flexibility in the civil service, while reducing administrative burden, rigidity and outdated bureaucratic practices. Opposition politicians have criticized the proposal, arguing it was not prepared by the government but by MPs and is not accompanied by thorough analyses of its impacts. They objected in particular to plans allowing ministers to appoint and dismiss state secretaries and to abolish service commissions after one year, bodies that civil servants can turn to for protection against pressure. The current Civil Service Act, aimed at depoliticizing public administration, has been in force since 2015.