News

International seminar in the Institute

        

From 12^th to 16^th December 2011, the Institute in cooperation with German Academy of Public Administration (BAKÖV) was hosting the international seminar focused on various aspects of public administration in the Czech Republic. The seminar was attended by representatives of German ministries and state authorities, who showed an interest to obtain more information about the current development in the Czech Republic. The study visit was realized within the terms of so called European reciprocal training programmes (ERT), i.e four days were dedicated to lectures and to visits to important political institutions and the part of programme was comprised the visit of a so called counterpart, when the participant visits an institution, which is in its range of activities similar to the one in which the respective official works and he/she leads an informal discussion with a representative of the counterpart institution about similarities and differencies of their work and agenda of authorities.

                                       

The first day of the seminar was initiated by the welcome speech of the director of Institute Ms. Zdenka Procházková. Her speech was followed by Mr. Ivo Bělonohý, who is secretary of Association of Secretaries of Municipal Offices of the Czech Republic. In his speech he introduced the system of public administration in the Czech Republlic and presented current key topics and challenges in this area. After the presentation of core  activities of the Institute given by Mr. Aleš Svoboda, the head of training department Mr. Michal Zídek focused his attention to the system of training of public administration in the Czech Republic and role of the Institute in this process. In the afternoon part of the programme, the excursion to the Office of Government of the Czech Republic was held and participants had the opportunity to see historical interiors of the Government’s premises and to get acquainted with a course and rules that meetings of government follow.     

                                     

The following day the set of lectures continued with the presentation of the strategy of Czech foreign policy and concept of Government for a fight against corruption, in the afternoon the delegation was granted an audience at the German embassy. During the third day, there were presented issues of crisis management of the Czech Republic, migration from the Czech perspective and concept of transport policy of the Czech Republic. A very interesting point of the programme was the afternoon excursion to Chamber of Deputies of the Parliamnet of the Czech Republic, where participants experienced the parliamentary session and they were presented an interesting lecture about the election system in the Czech Republic.

The last day of the joint programme involved presentations about the position of the Czech Republic with the respect to legal development of EU, a similar issue with focus on economic development of EU was discussed in the next presentation. It was followed by the presentation about circumstances and impacts of a possible adoption of single European currency in the Czech Republic.  The set of lectures was finalized with a topic of Strategy Europe 2020 and the Czech Republic. The indispensable part of the programme were discussions, in which participants had an oportunity to raise additional questions and to compare better the situation in the Czech Republic and Germany in given topics.

                                         

The final day of the whole study visit was dedicated to above mentioned individual counterpart visits in institutions.

Despite the various professional focus of seminar participants, the Institute tried to select topics of presentations in order to provide them an insight to interesting facts in the development of the Czech public administration and outline current issues that the Czech Republic is dealing with.

Therefore, we believe that the study vistit was interesting and useful for participants. Positive reactions raised during the discussion at the end of seminar showed that it was really so. The Institute would therefore appreciate to host similar events in the future.

Visit of Chinese delegation

   

In the beginning of December 2011 , the Training centre of Institute for Public Administration Prague in Benešov was visited by representatives of Shanxi Provincial Administration Academy. The official welcome speech was followed by the first presentation, in which the core activities of Institute were introduced. The next presentation was focused on the system of training of officials in public administration in the Czech Republic and role of Institute in this process. The subsequent discussion declared a wide interest of the Chinese side in the Czech experience in this area.

Kick-off meeting of international project for comparison of ethical standards in public administration

                          

In the beginning of December, the Institute hosted the kick off meeting of the international project, which is focused on a comparison of training of public administration officials in the area of ethics. In the meeting, there were introduced core activities of partner institutes, administrative aspects of the project and the current stage of the research already conducted by the coordinator.

The project is designed to last for two years and is being realized under Lifelong Learning Programme, within Leonardo da Vinci section. In this project, Institute acts as a coordinator, other members of project’s team are German Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht Berlin, Polish Krajowa Szkola Administracji Publicznej and Instituto Nacional de Administracao from Portugal.

                                          

                 

Through common meetings in partner countries, a comparative study, which will consist of several parts, will be gradually developed. It will focus on a brief introduction of the public administration system in respective countries and on training in public administration in general. Furthermore, it will provide a more detailed overview and comparison in the area of training of public administration officials in ethics, it will analyze the definition of ethical principles and the project will also focus on the current content and legal form as well as comparison of ethics codes.

The conclusion of the project will not be just a comparison, but the project also aims to utilize the good practice of respective countries and come with a proposal of an ideal form of this issue.

The complete study will be available in the second half of 2013.

DISPA meeting

In the middle of October 2011 the regular meeting of directors of schools and institutes of public administration was held, this time in Warsaw.

In opening speeches participants were formally welcomed by the minister for public administration Mr.Slawomir Brodzinski and subsequently by the director of KSAP Mr. Jacek Czaputowicz, who introduced the hosting organization and main thesis within the core topic of the meeting which was leadership in changing public administration. In the following interesting presentation Mr. Luc Roullet from Y-motions company  mentioned a necessity of training of talents within leadership area through the indispensable interaction and necessity to conduct same or more service (in extent and quality terms) for limited volume of financial resources in public administration, which is the idea that was pointed out by several speakers.  His speech was followed by Mr. Massimo Gerli from Scuola Superiore della Publica Amministrazione, who presented Italian experience from the reform of  public administration. The retiring director of Public Administration Academy (BAKÖV) Mr. Hans Kunsmann then presented training programmes for senior officials and managers, including changing requests and key values and competencies of leading employees. The reality of ongoing changes and related challenges for leaders was outlined from a more global perspective by the KSAP guest lecturer Ms. Malgorzata Steiner.

In the afternoon part, the programme was divided into working groups. The Institute’s (IPA) representative participated at the WG focused on ethical leadership that was chaired by Ms. Lärke Johns from Swedish Council for Strategic HR development (KRUS). Firstly, the Swedish project that concluded that key values for ethics in public administration were democracy, legality, objectivity and equality, transparency and freedom of expression, respect, efficiency and service, was presented. It resulted from the following discussion that although there are differences between the perception of ethics in the private and public sector, managers with their active attitude should play a key role in the ethics development in their work team. Simultaneously, ethics should serve as a leadership tool and respecting ethical principles should make the public administration more attractive in public eyes. Within the WG, the representative of Institute had an opportunity to present the project focused on the ethics in public administration, which is coordinated by the Institute for Public Administration Prague.    

Outputs from other working groups were also interesting. The first section was focused on identification and development of a leadership talent. Although perspectives of interpretation of the term “leader” vary, such a person should have a natural talent for leading as well as to be an expert. However, it is necessary to develop a talent regularly and it should be ensured not only by special courses but also by learning in practice. The second WG was discussing a topic of leader as an actor of change. A right leader should frequently gather information, anticipate possible threats, develop a plan of changes but stay flexible. Furthermore, he/she should have negotiation, persuasion and communication skills, keep a positive approach, encourage potential in colleagues and initiate sharing of ideas. The last WG was dealing with the relation of leadership and human resources and they concluded that the HR area should create values and offer an active help for leaders.

The following section of the meeting was dedicated to the introduction of institutes and networks from EU neighbouring regions. There were successively presented Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe (NISPACee), which is the Institute a member of, Ukrainian National Academy of Public Administration and Regional School of Public Administration, operating in Western Balkans area. Furthermore, Mr. Bernard Boucault, director of French ENA mentioned recent activities of his academy and importance of Strasbourg Manifesto and Mr. Stefano Pizzicannella presented outputs of the recent IASIA conference (International Association of Administrative Schools and Institutes).

The next DISPA meeting will be held on 10^th-11^th May 2012 in Copenhagen and its topic is going to be realization of innovation in public administration.  

Visit of Chinese delegation

      

Within their study tour to Europe, on 19^th-21^st October 2011 the visit of Chinese delegation in the Czech Republic took place. It was held in cooperation with the Germany dbb akademie and Association for International Cooperation (GIZ), which processed the journey. The delegation mainly consisted of top executives of financial authorities from various Chinese provinces. The programme of the study was adjusted to this fact.

After the welcome speech in representation premises of Ministry of Education,Youth and Sport given by vice-director of the Institute Ms.Šilhová and a brief description of core activities conducted by Institute, the presentation given by Mr.Čechák (The University of Finance and Administration) about the system of public administration in the Czech Republic and methods of its financing.   

On the second day, the programme was dedicated to visits of ministries. At the Ministry of Finance the course of transformation process and related impacts on Czech economics was introduced and in the second lecture, the national coordinator for Euro implementation Mr. Dědek presented pros and cons and impacts of the implementation of single currency for the Czech Republic. During the afternoon’s part of the programme the utilization of EU funds was discussed at the Ministry for Regional Development.

The final day of the official part of the study visit in the Czech Republic was held in the Institute’s training centre in Benešov. In his presentation the first vice-director Mr.Ernýgr introduced financial aspects of the Institute’s operation. His speech was followed up by Mr. Zídek (Head of Training Department), who presented a system of officials training and role of the Institute in this process. In the second presentation he focused on training of senior officials. The programme was finished with the showcase of the Institute’s eLearning platform.

Each presentation during the visit was accompanied by frequent queries by members of Chinese delegation. Therefore, we believe that the study visit to the Czech Republic was beneficial for them and that they obtained a lot of interesting and useful information for their work.

We would also like to use this opportunity and thank the colleagues from Germany as well as representatives of concerned ministries for cooperation and helpfulness during the provision of the visit.  

Visit of Serbian delegation

  

In the middle of October 2011, Institute hosted within their study tour the delegation consisted of representatives of Serbian Ministry of Human Rights and Rights of Minorities and Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities.

            

After the welcome speech given by the direcrtor of Institute and a short introduction to Institute’s activities, the lecture about the system of training in public administration and role of the Institute was presented. Members of the delegation were also introcuded the system of accreditations. In the afternoon’s part of the visit, the facility of Institute training centre in Benešov was presented and it was followed by introduction of the Institute’s  eLearning platform.  

Due to frequent queries to each discussed topic we believe that members of Serbian delegation obtained interesting and useful information for their work.

On 19th-20th May 2011 the regular meeting of directors of institutes and schools of public administration, which was focused on new challenges in public administration training strategies, took place in Budapest.

In the opening speech, participants were welcomed by Mr. Levente András Gál, state secretary for public administration. The actual meeting was opened by Mr. Norbert Kis, Director General of Hungarian National Institute of Public Administration. In the first part of his speech, he presented his institute and mentioned the greatest difficulties and obstacles in Hungarian training system. Afterwards, he focused on the main topic of the meeting and he pointed out the importance of efficiency process, meeting requests and expectations of officials and increasing importance of public administration’s electronization.   

Due to the fact that DISPA meeting always takes place in the country that has the current presidency in Council of the EU and co-operates with forthcoming presiding countries, the speech of Mr. Kis was followed by presentations of representatives of Poland (Mr. Jacek Czaputowicz, director of National School of Public Administration), Cyprus (Ms. Eleni Gereoudakis, director of Cyprus Academy of Public Administration) and Denmark (Nikolaj Lubanski, director of Danish School of Public Administration). The identification of weak spots of Polish public administration was a valuable aspect of Mr. Czaputowicz’s speech and he also raised the question, whether public administration should be unified across Europe or each country should prefer its own approach. The Cypriot representative also mentioned problem issues of local public administration and briefly introduced a project focused on strategic leadership and managers development of Cypriot public administration. Similarly, the Danish delegate talked about a plan and necessity of public administration reforms.    

Subsequently, the agenda of the meeting continued in working groups. The representative of ILA participated in the working group focused on effective transfer of learning in public administration. Prevailing general thoughts initiated the debate to what extent the attitude and used training methods influence its quality. Members of the working group concluded that used methods are often more important for effectiveness of learning than the actual content and the motivation of participants to be trained is a crucial aspect. Therefore, it is important to obtain feedback by participants not only from evaluation forms but also for instance by direct telephone dialogues and prepare courses according to their expectations. Outputs from other sections were also interesting. First working group was focused on state of art methods in training and related changes of participants expectations. A similar topic was also discussed in another working group. There was stressed the increasing importance of so called soft skills, which on the contrary should not be privileged to real factual knowledge. Within the training in public administration there is also apparent an increase of case studies. The third working group discussed programmes on the EU level. Based on incentives of member of this group, a simplified SWOT analysis was prepared. It shows that the realization of joint projects brings an opportunity of transfer of best practice and creating new network, however faces a lack of funds and different ideas of particular members.        

Furthermore, one of essential DISPA documents so called Strasbourg Manifesto was discussed and it was also mentioned in the speech of director of French ENA Mr. Bernard Boucault. During the meeting a slightly modified version of Manifesto, which should stress mutual cooperation of DISPA members, was proposed. This discussion was followed by the presentation of the INCREASE project presented by Belgian representatives and focused on sharing evaluation experience.  

The programme then continued with speeches of Mr.David Walker (Director of European Administrative School) and Ms.Marga Pröhl (Director of European Institute of Public Administration). They highlighted the need of the appropriate DISPA website and efficient communication between members.

The meeting was closed with the invitation of Mr. Czaputowicz for the following DISPA meeting, which will take place this year in autumn in Warsaw.

                 

       

Visit of Bavarian delegation in Institute

On Tuesday 15th March the visit of Bavarian delegation was held in the training centre of Institute in Benešov. The visit was prepared in cooperation with the Consulate General in Munich and under the auspice of Bavarian State Chancellory. Members of the delegation were Bavarian officials involved in a long-term training programme, which they are prepared for management positions in public administration within.

The programme for the delagation was composed of a presentation of the training centre and subsequently five presentations reflecting various topics of public life.

The first presentation was a speech of Ms. Veronika Hunt Šafránková (Head of the Department of the EU and Environmnetal Policies, Ministry of Environment) dedicated to the environmental policy of the Czech Republic. Her speech was followed by presentations of Ms. Jana Chvalkovská (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University) focused on the position of the Czech Republic with the respect of economic-financial development of the EU as well as legal development of the EU.

After the lunch break, the presentation by the Institute’s employee Mr. Václav Melichar was held. In his speech he briefly presented the system of public administration and he described principles of the training of public administration officials in the Czech Republic. In the final presentation, Mr. Martin Janeček (Ministerial Counsellor from Ministry of Transport) introduced the transport policy of the Czech Republic and he also outlined its future concept.

All presentations were perceived very positively and raised many question. Due to the successful course of presentations and mutual positive impression from the visit, there is an option of posssible future cooperation.             

          

Visit of Vietnamese delegation  

On Friday 17^th December, a delegation from Hochiminh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration visited the Training Centre of Institute for Local Administration.

After a short introduction describing principles of functioning, the main presentation regarding the system of training of officials in the Czech Republic followed. It was very interesting for our Vietnamese guests, although there are big differencies between both countries in this field. The training rooms of the training centre had also been presented to representatives of the delgation and they appreciated their convenient environment and state of art equipment.        

Visit of Chinese delegation

On Monday 13th December, representatives of Chinese Administration Academy of Province Hubei visited the Training Centre of Institute for Public Administration. The meeting, which has already become tradtional, was prepared in the collaboration with the Aozhong Society for Cultural and Training Austrian-Chinese Exchange.

Representatives of the Institute described the basic processes of operation of our organization. Afterwards, the main topic of the system of training of officials in the Institute was presented.  Although there are apparent differencies between both countries, both sides found a number of similarities so it was possible to deal with concrete aspects of training of officials in both countries and help mutually at discussing common disputable questions, whic appear in this field.

Visit of Georgian Delegation in Institute

On 7^th December Institute for Public Administration hosted in its Prague headquarters the  delegation of prime representatives of Georgian public administration.

The main topic of the meeting was the presentation of the Institute and the way of training of territorial self-governing units officials in the Czech Republic. After the presentation and sharing information it was apparent, that the visit was benficial for both sides although just a few common aspects  in the system of training of officials in the Czech Republic and Georgia  can be found.     

Face to face pilot courses in the project Transfer of Innovation on Methodologies for European Officials

In the end of October and beginning of November, Institute for Local Administration Prague organized face to face pilot courses of the project Transfer of Innovation on Methodologies for European Officials, which is being realized within the Lifelong Learning Programme, subprogramme Leonardo da Vinci.

Respective pilot courses held the titles Basic elements for managing European social crisis with transnational impact, Active Inclusion of Migrant Women, Border control in the Schengen Area, Keeping up with the Pulse of Integration of Migrant Women and Minors, International protection within the EU: current developments of the right of asylum. These courses were lectured by experts from universities as well as experts who deal with the respective issues on the practical daily basis level.  Quite a broad range of participants involving experts as well as people who do not face the topic in their occupation so often attended the courses. This contributed to a diversity of the seminar, which did not involve just a pure theoretical insight but also interactive tasks and discussion. Despite such a diverse audience, the courses received quite a positive feedback and we obtained invaluable remarks in which areas the training modules should be modified or ammended. For those who cannot participate on the face to face courses or those who would like to join repeatedly, the Institute intends to launch eLearning versions of the training modules. For more information please contact Mr. Lukas Jirsa at l.jir@institutpraha.cz or via telephone +420 974 863 525.     

Presentation at Prestigious Conference in Berlin 

On 13th-15th September the regular and renowned annual conference Xinnovations 2010 was held in Berlin. This conference is widely visited by prime pundits of IT technologies from the whole Germany.

Based on the invitation of organizers, the representative of Institution for Public Administration Prague, Mr. Václav Melichar, had the unique opportunity to present the current situation in eGovernment in the Czech Republic. His paper was warmly welcomed by participants and stimulated the following discussion regarding the improvement of eGovernmnent in the Czech Republic as well as Germany and worldwide. Participants really appreciated the improvement the Czech Ministry of Interior has managed to reach in quite a short period thanks to projects of CzechPOINT and DataBoxes. The appreciation by present representatives of public administration bodies, universities and IT companies was also dedicated to the training in eGovernment provided by Institute for Local Administration Prague.

The presented insight helped to rise awareness and interest in the Czech Republic from the eGovernment point of view among German experts.  

International project TIME OFF development

Institute for Local Administration Prague is a coordinator of the project „Transfer of Innovation  in Methodologies for European Officials : Follow up a joint  learning path CZ/09/LLP-LdV/TOI/134011“, which is a continuation of the project „Identification and Validation of Competencies of European Officials – the Road to a Joint Training“ and has been realized in Lifelong Learning Programme, particularly in Leonardo da Vinci  programme, where it belongs under Multilateral projects / Transfer of Innovations. The project partnership consists of training institutions from Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal and the Czech Republic as a coordinator. With utilization of methodology  created in the previous project particular modules will be updated (focused on free movement of persons, right of asylum and social crises) and some are to be newly created (issues of active inclusion and integration of vulnerable groups).

                                       
Currently, the process of finalization of modules content is in progress and we prepare free of charge face to face pilot versions of courses for listed training modules. Pilot versions are going to be presented in Czech language and are designed to last for one day.  Courses will be realized during October and November 2010.
Pilot versions of distance learning will be scheduled for January-February 2011.
For more detailed information please see the project’s website www.europeanofficial.eu

Extension of Institute’s Responsibilities

Since 1st May 2010  Institute for Local Administration Prague has been entitled by the decision of Ministry of Interior to overtake and conduct selected responsibilities from Institute of State Administration. This situation means for us an extension of our target group because we were assigned to realize the training of officials in state administration, not only officials of territorial self-government units - regions and municipalties as we have been doing so far.
Among others such an extension brings us further opportunities. In case of your interest to realize common activities and projects in the area of training of officials in state administration, please do not hesitate to contact our International Relations, Marketing and Strategies Department.
 

Representatives of the Institute Successfully Presented the Results and Process of Implementation of eGovernment on Important Event in Berlin

On 17th-18th February 2010 representatives of Institute for Local Administration Prague actively participated on a traditional and important conference regarding eGovernment -  16. Anwenderforum eGovernment (Forum of eGovernment Users) in Berlin, Germany.  This conference provides a platform for exchange of experience and presentation of news in the given area for both public administration authorities as well as private subjects. The conference, which was hosted and held under patronage of Interior and Sport Department of Senate and State of Brandenburg, took place in Press and Information Centre of German Federal Government and representatives of most important organizations of German public administration of state and federal level participated on this event.

The representative of our Institute Mr. Václav Melichar, as the only international speaker, presented an extensive paper regarding Aspects of eGovernment in the Czech Republic and his presentation raised a huge attention and acceptance. In his paper he was dealing with assignments and responsibilities of Institute for Local Administration Prague within the implementation of eGovernment in the Czech Republic and simultaneously he provided an overview of eGovernment projects realized in the Czech Republic by Ministry of Interior. The presentation was interrupted by spontaneous applause several times. Especially, the idea and realization of CzechPOINT and Data Boxes projects recorded a great respect.

In general, the presence and the presentation of representatives of Institute for Local Administration Prague were perceived by German participants as very interesting and beneficial and attracted attention to eGovernment issues in the Czech Republic.

                 

ERT Seminar – Germany and Europe

Mid June 2009, representatives of Institute for Public Administration Prague (IPA) took part in European Reciprocal Training seminar „Germany and Europe“, which was organized by Federal Ministry of Interior of Germany and Bundesakademie für Öffentliche Verwaltung. The seminar took place in cities of Berlin and Munich. Its objective was to present the German public administration system including link of German administration to European union to participants from various European countries (apart from the Czech Republic also Italy, Austria, Romania, Spain and Sweden).

The first day, representatives of IPA visited the Federal Ministry of Interior, where the German constitutional system was presented. The programme continued at the European Commisssion (EC) in Germany site and participants obtained a general awareness about the scope of activitities towards the EC. It was followed by excursion to the Bundesrat, which is the body representing federal states (so called Bundesländer) on the federal level, and the lecture about its position and role on the European level. The last point was Bundestag (German parliament), in which the activity was European committee was introduced.

The second day programme started with the presentation of attitude of Ministry of Economics and Technology to the European policy. The similar topic had the discussion at Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A very important milestone was the afternoon informal visit of Brandenburger Kommunalakademie in Potsdam, which organizers selected as a possible partner for cooperation with IPA. Both institutions presented each other and described a system and matters of training of officials in Brandenburg and the Czech Republic and a potential future cooperation was initiated.

The third day programme was launched in Federal Ministry of Interior with the lecture about specific elements of life in Germany 19 years of reunification  The speaker was comparing the current situation with political and social-economic aspects of former GDR.
This was followed by a lecture at the Federal Chancellery about its role in German politics and subsequent guided tour. In the afternoon section, participants had an opportunity to take part on a guided tour through Berlin city centre focused on the history of Berlin wall. After that programme continued with guided tour in Bundestag, which has been recently restored. Its modern dome enables to see down on the MP’s meeting as well as the whole panorama of Berlin.

 
The final two days were realized in Munich. Among others, participants visited Bavarian State parliament, where were described prinicipals of operation this institution, its position within federal order of Germany and role of Bavaria in Germany.  The very last point of the programme was a visit at European Patent Office, one of significant institutions, which has its premises in Germany.

The seminar’s organizers managed to ensure a lot of interesting lectures in German public administration institutions, it fulfilled its purpose and meant a great contribution for the work of all participants. Moreover, representatives of ILA managed to pre-negotiate a future coopeartion with Brandenburgische Kommunalakademie and Romanian Institute of National Administration. The German organizer expressed their view that it would be benefitial to host such a seminar in the Czech Republic soon. Also from this point of view, this business trip was useful for ILA representatives as they had an opportunity to acknowledge in more detail a typical content and structure of these seminars as well as manners of their organization.  

ENTO General Assembly and Conference “Networking for Training”

The French city of Strasbourg hosted on 9th- 10th November 2009 the General Assembly of ENTO (European Network of Training Organisations for Local and Regional Authorities) and the related conference dealing with “Networking for Training” topic.

 The conference was introduced by the President of ENTO Mr. Raffaele Gareri and President of Chamber of Regions of Council of Europe and Head of Local and Regional Representatives of Council of Europe Ms. Ludmila Sfirloaga. Afterwards, the representative of German Euro Institute from Kehl presented procedures of successful management of the network of training organizations. His presentation was followed by a paper of representative of Kehl University about master programmes dedicated to European public management. The section was closed by a paper of French Institute of Training for Elected Representatives (IFE) about project calls. Finally, the director of Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administrations in Central and Eastern Europe (NISPACee) Ms. Ludmila Gajdošová presented this network and possibilities of ENTO and NISPACee cooperation were discussed.

 The second day, the ENTO General Assembly took place and it was focused on future heading of the network. In the beginning, the new president highlighted the participation of present representatives because at this year’s meeting, there were significantly less participants than at previous one in Italy. He also appreciated the contribution of former president Ms.Chris Cardy and on behalf of the whole Bureau he awarded her the honourary membership. This act was followed by the approval process of conclusion from the last Bureau meeting. The great discussion was raised about the financial report because despite the minimalization of the support by Council of Europe, the outlook for 2010 seems to be very optimistic and it is necessary to reduce expenditures, e.g in publishing area.

With the interruption of support by council of Europe is related the need to set the secretariat of ENTO and it is highly likely to realize the option of cooperation of Euro Instiute Kehl with Europa Networking, which increases ENTO costs for 20,000 EUR.

 In spite of expectations, there was not decided a date and venue of the next regular meeting and conference. The only candidate was the Georgian organization and there is doubt among members because of political and security stability of the region. Also from these reasons some participants stressed like at the previous extraordinary meeting in February 2009 the possibility to host the meeting in Prague. Representatives of Institute for Public Administration Prague expressed the interest to host such an event in future years, but hosting the conference the meeting and conference in 2010 does not seem to be very realistic now.                      

ENTO Extraordinary General Assembly

The representatives of Institute for Public Administration Prague took part on ENTO Extraordinary General Assembly (ENTO is network which Institute is member of). This Assembly was held in the beginning of February in Strasbourg. The main reason for the calling of Extraordinary Assembly was the unexplained situation regarding the background of the election of ENTO Bureau which has arisen from the last ENTO General Assembly (held in October 2009). This situation caused the reactions and doubts about  appropriateness of the ENTO Statutes and course and form of the election. Extraordinary General Assembly was called with the aim to solve and clear up the situation about election and ENTO Statutes.
The Assembly was designed as the one day meeting and members from 18 organizations participated there.
Chris Cardy, president of ENTO, made the welcome speech and acquainted attendants with the draft agenda. The next speaker, Ulrich Bohner (Secretary General, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe) stressed the essential points regarding activities of ENTO. The crucial questions and problems which had to be clarified in this Assembly were following:
who is the member of ENTO (approval process of new members)
insufficiencies in ENTO Statutes
what is the added value for Council of Europe and ENTO members
cooperation on projects
At the end of his speech he remarked the way and amount of financial contribution to ENTO from the Council of Europe. After this speech the discussion and negotiation about ENTO Statutes carried out. The way of approval of new members, level of member fees, suitable number of bureau members was discussed and set up. A form and way of the election of ENTO Bureau belonged to the key issue of this meeting. Following the discussion, a model of direct election of president and indirect of Bureau members was elected. As the last issue of this session the venue and topics of the next ENTO General Assembly were discussed. Based on the outputs from this Extraordinary General Assembly ENTO Statutes will be modified and set up.