CALL FOR PAPERS
12th NISPAcee Annual Conference, 2004

"Central and Eastern European Countries inside and outside the European Union: Avoiding a new divide"

Vilnius, Lithuania, May 13 - 15, 2004

The Main Conference Theme

As we meet in May 2004, an historical change will have taken place in Europe. Several former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe will have joined the European Union, an unprecedented voluntary association of democratic states with market economies, and its emerging Constitutional identity. The entire structure of political, economic, and social relations in Europe will change. What will be the impact of this change to public policy and administration in countries both inside and outside the EU borders? What will the challenges be of this new membership to public policy and administration of the new member states? What actions will need to be taken to avoid the new divide between them and the other countries of the region, and to harmonize the way in which public interests are followed throughout the entire continent?

Papers are invited on the main themes of the conference:

A. Problems facing the new Member States

Administrations of the new member states (NMS) have focused more on gaining accession rather than preparing a solid base for membership. They have concentrated more on "becoming" rather than "being" during the preparatory period. Thus, there is a real danger that there will be de facto two European Administrative Spaces.

Specific themes will include:

· The Convention and its implications for the future of European administration.
· The competences of central public administrations vis-à-vis enlargement.
· Building NMS capacities to enforce the acquis communautaire.
· The roles and competences of the representatives of NMS in European institutions.
· The capacities of regional public administrations to participate in EU programs and the risks of mismanagement of EU funds.
· The hopes and fears of the population associated with enlargement.
· The Lisbon strategy and its implementation, the social and economic consequences of membership and what new institutions and approaches will be required to cope with them.
· The potential for a coordinated effort of the NMS to face the challenges of membership.

B. Problems facing the States outside the enlarged European Union

Outside the enlarged European Union, there will remain a large number of states, each at different stages of development, with different relationships both with the EU and with each other.   What potential will there be for further enlargement?   What are the developmental risks and opportunities for them, their public policies and administrations in the new situation throughout the continent?

Specific themes will include:

· How to accelerate institution building and administrative learning and adaptation (e.g. learning from the administrative transformation strategies applied recently in the NMS).
· Strengthening specific administrative capacities to collaborate with the EU.
· The efficiency of such programs as Accession Partnerships and the activities covered by the Stabilization and Association Processes

C. Common problems

All CEE countries face a set of common challenges in public policy and administration. NISPAcee is a natural setting for mutual inspiration and learning how to cope with them.  Not only can we learn from positive experiences but also from one another's mistakes.

Specific themes will include:

· The role of NMS in bridging EU states and CEE countries:
o Information exchange and sharing of experiences.
o Common administration capacity building.
· Paralysis of policy-making, particularly of its strategic dimension.
· How to fight against corruption and conflicts of interests.
· Facilitating administrative learning and adaptation through transfer of knowledge and experience from the old to the NMS, and from the NMS to other CEE countries:
o Networking of training and educational  institutions;
o Improvement of public service exchange programmes;
o New roles and responsibilities for NISPAcee member institutions in training and research.


Working Groups

Several NISPAcee working groups will meet during the conference. More information on these working groups (which will be included in the conference programme) and the requirements for participation, will be available on the NISPAcee website from July 2003.

The following permanent working groups will hold their meetings during the conference:

- Working group on Politico-Administrative Relations
- Working group on Public Sector Quality
- Working group on Democratic Governance of Multiethnic Communities
- Working group on Public Sector Finance and Accounting

Newly established working group:

- Working group on Strategic Leadership in Central Government

Other working groups which are under consideration:

- Working group on e-government
- Working group on capacity building of civil servants training system according to EU requirements

Other Conference activities

Several panel sessions are planned to be included in the conference programme:

- European Accreditation of Public Administration Programmes,
- Forum for Young Professionals,
- Forum for the Heads of the Training Centres and Institutes of Public Administration.

Others - on presentation of different projects and relevant activities - could be included during the finalization of the programme.

In addition an annual NISPAcee Business Meeting will be held during the conference and all NISPAcee members are cordially invited to participate.


Applications with papers

Applications, with papers, may be submitted on the main conference themes as well as for the different working groups.

Deadline for applications: October 15, 2003

More detailed information on all conference activities, application forms with requirements concerning papers, registration forms for the conference and deadlines will be available on the NISPAcee website from mid July 2003.  Information will be regularly updated: www.nispa.sk