THE INSTITUTION OF ASEP AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
The Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection (ASEP) was established by Law 2190/1994 (Official government Gazette Issue No. 28/3.3.1994) as an independent authority responsible for securing the implementation of the provisions on public sector staff recruitment. The aforementioned law defines every aspect of the Council’s activities and processes. The role of ASEP has been further enhanced under the 2001 Constitution amendment, as the institutional guardian of the principles of transparency, publicity, objectivity and meritocracy in the civil personnel selection (article 101A of Constitution). The right of access to work in the public sector with absolute transparency, publicity, objectivity and meritocracy imposes the neutrality of the Administration and guarantees equal opportunities for all citizens.
As of 15/5/2021, the personnel selection process has changed in accordance with Law 4765/2021 (Official government Gazette Issue No. 6/15.1.2021) “modernization of public sector”. The Law aims at strengthening meritocracy in the recruitment system in the public sector as well as to upgrade and modernize ASEP.
The members of ASEP are senior officials who enjoy personal and functional independence. ASEP is subject to parliamentary control according to the Standing Orders of the Hellenic Parliament. Its actions are not subject to hierarchical control in terms of legality but only to judicial control. It has a national scope of work and regulatory authority as well as authority to oversee the legality of acts and limited sanctioning jurisdiction. It also has administrative and financial autonomy with its own budget.
During its multi-year operation, ASEP managed successfully to change entrenched attitudes and practices, demonstrating its ability as an independent authority to fulfill its institutional role and ensure impartiality and transparency in the critical area of employment in public administration; with a view to preserving the principle of meritocracy and shielding the rule of law.
ASEP is composed of 35 members, the President (currently Dr. Athanassios Papaioannou who took office on June 2021), the 4 Vice-Presidents and the 30 Councilors. All members are elected by the Conference of Presidents of the Hellenic Parliament.
The Plenary Session, the Minor Plenary Session and the 4 Departments function as collective bodies, with specific hierarchical responsibilities in decision making.
ASEP’s Members are persons of recognized prestige and professional competence who have served as Senior Members of the Judiciary, senior government officials or employees, university professors or senior executives of public Organizations or other legal entities of the public sector.
The Secretariat of ASEP, which consists of high-level employees, actively supports ASEP’s Council Members and operates intensively in order to carry out its demanding tasks. Specialized Scientific Personnel also support the work of the Council.
ASEP’s main responsibilities include: selection of regular public and wider public sector staff, public administration recruitment processes for project agreements, fixed-term and short-term employment positions at all levels, inspections-audits conducted by Council Members monitoring compliance with the recruitment provisions, recruitment process of Specialized Scientific Personnel. Within its scope, ASEP may carry out research and projects related to its purpose and strategic objectives and participate in programs funded, in whole or in part, by national resources or the European Union or by other international or supranational institutions, as well as in co-financed operational programs. The participation of ASEP in the three-year European research program QualiChain is an example.
In Greece, public recruitment is oriented towards finding the most qualified candidates for groups of similar positions/roles (i.e. administrative jobs, technical positions, research posts) according to the required educational level and the specialization of content of the job vacancy (i.e. engineers, accountants, administrative assistants, nurses etc.).
The ASEP selection process, is highly structured. More specifically:
1. All announcements for open positions/roles or proclamations, as well as all the results of the selection process, are published in the Official Government Gazette, the Council’s website (www.asep.gr) as well as on the government’s “Transparency Portal” (https://diavgeia.gov.gr/en).
2. All candidates that fulfill the necessary minimum requirements set by law are eligible for the open positions/roles.
3. No matter how large the number of candidates, each and every one is evaluated fairly, based upon specific, objective and transparent, graded criteria which differ according to the education category of the offered position and relate to the candidates’ qualifications, experience and/or performance in a written examination.
4. Every participant in the selection process has the right to an appeal or objection in case he/she does not succeed to being appointed and to request further information regarding the criteria applied and the evaluation conducted.
Candidates are evaluated based on the score they achieve in written exams, the outcome of their interview, and their qualifications overall.
Law 4765/2021 introduces as a central recruitment procedure, the pan-Hellenic written competition. Τhis new competition concerns the filling of the public sector positions, through a uniform way of evaluation and selection. It will be conducted every two (2) years and the first competition is expected to take place in the third quarter of 2022.
The new recruitment system focuses on the aforementioned written competition with the aim of selecting staff capable of working efficiently, in order to serve the public interest in a rapidly evolving public sector.
According to Law 4589/2019, at the request of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs based on the recorded educational needs, ASEP announces and conducts, every (2) two school years, a procedure for the preparation of a ranking list of teachers, Special Education Staff – EAE (EEP) and Special Education Support/Assistant Staff – EAE (EBP). This is taking place in a priority order by specialization so that they can be appointed as permanent teachers or employed as substitute teachers in Primary and/or Secondary Education. Candidates having the specific qualifications for appointment in primary or secondary education are accepted in the procedure.
ASEP is supported by a high-end electronic information system managing effectively the vast volume of applications, vacancies, news releases, results and, most importantly, candidates involved in ASEP selection processes records. ASEP remains firmly oriented towards the utilization of information and communication technology in order to accomplish its mission. This takes place through the implementation of the best business methods and processes that enhance the principles of transparency, participation, accessibility, privacy and security of the citizens.
In this context, ASEP and Information Society S.A. signed a Program Agreement in 2021, which concerns the upgrade of the ASEP information system in the modern digital recruitment environment of the public sector. This upgrade will include overall design and implementation of new digital solutions for the ASEP business processes as well as the transition of ASEP IT systems to the Government Cloud (G-Cloud).
The adherence to the principles of transparency creates, as expected, increased needs for information. The public is informed by the Citizens’ Ιnformation Office, but mainly through the website of ASEP (www.asep.gr), which ranks among the most visited websites of the Greek public services.
Nevertheless, the greatest recognition comes from both public entities themselves, who consider that the personnel they hire through ASEP is indeed of a high standard, as well as by the recruited staff, who acknowledge the fact that they have been hired on an objective basis.