Govt appointments committee won’t solve cushy jobs in state companies

The Government is supposed to discuss today a report on the performance of its committee on personnel appointments, established in March 2014. NGOs Frank Bold and Nasi politici warn that nine months on the appointments system fails to deliver and the general public has no relevant information on the appointments of members of the state-owned enterprises’ supervisory boards. Moreover, the Government has backed from its earlier commitment to pursue a special bill which would see the introduction of transparent criteria of such appointments.

“The Government nomination committee seems to be creating an optical illusion of the cabinet tackling the problem of cushy jobs in the supervisory boards of state-owned companies. But this committee in its present incarnation fails to meet international recommendations as well as the electoral promises of the coalition leaders. The committee interviews candidates and communicates its recommendations to the general public—which is a good thing to do. However, it has failed to study the personal histories and potential risks of conflict of interest pertaining to likely candidates, and it does not announce in fair advance the requirements for candidates in individual companies,” notes Martin Fadrný, a lawyer for the Frank Bold organization.

“What’s more, this committee actually consists of three persons appointed by the coalition leaders and as such it cannot be taken for an independent body of experts the general public might see as a counterbalance to possible political pressures,” Mr. Fadrný explains.

Moreover it follows from the plan of legislative work that the coalition might be content with this solution, as it no longer plans to enact legislation on appointments to supervisory boards of state-owned enterprises. Should that happen, even the modicum of progress represented by the nomination committee might be cancelled by a stroke of pen of any future prime minister.

Contacts:

Marin Fadrný
775 154 079
martin.fadrny@frankbold.org

Michal Voda
777 022 577
voda@nasipolitici.cz

A detailed evaluation of the Committee’s endeavours is available here in Czech.