The summer school in public policy organized by the Romanian Academic Society (SAR) took place in Sinaia, Romania from August 24 to 27. Over 20 participants have been selected among political party representatives and civil servants from six ministries. During the four day event, the participants participated in lectures and aimed to formulate the best solutions for some of the key public policy issues in Romania. The topics discussed included: solutions for generating new jobs, social security budget deficit, financing the health system, property restitution, improving the efficiency of the education system, rationalizing public budget spending, the absorption of EU funds, Roma segregation in urban and rural areas, and issues affecting the Hungarian minority in Romania.
The main objective of the summer school was to equip participants with the skills to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the different options for solving a public problem.
The event was coordinated by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, the school director and professor at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. Sessions were held by teachers at Hertie School of Governance, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) and the World Bank together with technocrats, researchers and practitioners from non-governmental sector assisting participants to articulate policy options to these problems. Guest speakers included: Bogdan Chiriţoiu and Razvan Orăşanu.
Concerning the structure of the group of participants Pippidi declared “we have received a mixed response from political parties, while ministries and agencies showed a great enthusiasm”. “We encourage participants from all fields to join us in identifying the best solutions to these problems, beyond party ideology. We maintain our position that effectively addressing main problems requires broad political agreement between all the main parties to ensure continuity and stability of the solutions implemented.”
This event was organized with the financial support of the Hertie School of Governance , Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the European Commission 7th Framework Programme , through the project ACCEPT Pluralism – Tolerance , Pluralism and Social Cohesion : Responding to the Challenges of the 21st Century in Europe .
For more info contact: Adriana Iordache, adriana.iordache@sar.org.ro.
Some pictures of the event:
