Public Governance - Statement by the TUAC Secretariat
TUAC Submission to the OECD Public Governance Committee at Ministerial Level - Rotterdam, 27-28 November 2005
21/11/2005
Terms of the debate: public trust for public interest
Understanding public trust is intimately linked to the broader issue of defining and protecting public interest. The issues paper[1] for discussion at the OECD ministerial meeting on public trust in Rotterdam, 27-28 November 2005, rightly acknowledges that public trust “is achieved when citizens are confident that the government will protect and serve the public interest.” Evaluating the degree of trust can only be benchmarked on the capacity of governments to determine public interest and, from there, to set out and implement appropriate policies. However this central role for public interest in building public trust seems missing in the current ministerial framework. Rather than pursuing the initial public interest angle, the issues paper suggests that governments should meet citizens’ expectations, which, in turn are considered varying, and “even contradictory”. Citizenship is here considered as the piling-up of different statuses in society: a citizen is an employee, a taxpayer, an investor, a consumer, an end-user of public services, and a voter.
Citizenship, more widely defined, as
suggested above, is more than the sum of its parts. Citizenship is
the enabling status that allows individuals to understand and take
part actively in the community, to create wealth for society and
contribute to an equitable distribution of that wealth. That
relationship and how citizens perceive the role of government in
fulfilling the public good vary from country to country, even
within Europe. It is no accident that the term ‘governance’ does
not translate easily from English into other languages.
Globalisation has made sure that the relationship between citizens’
trust in government and pursuing public interest is a continuing
complex issue. For example it should be recognised that national
citizenship is no longer sufficient as the reference concept for
governments. As the mobility of people is grudgingly accepted by
governments, more and more residents, including taxpayers, in many
countries, are not national citizens. Very recent events in a
number of European countries suggest that it is especially amongst
these people that the question of trust in governments and host
societies has become a matter needing an urgent public policy
response.
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(traduction française)
Réunion du Comité de la gouvernance
publique de l’OCDE au niveau ministériel
Rotterdam, 27-28 novembre 2005
Déclaration du Secrétariat du TUAC
Paris, 21 novembre 2005
Les termes du débat : la confiance du public au service de l’intérêt général
1. La question de la confiance du public est
intimement liée à la question plus large de la définition et de la
protection de l’intérêt général. La note sur les questions à
examiner[1] à la réunion ministérielle de l’OCDE sur la confiance
dans l’action publique à Rotterdam, les 27 et 28 novembre 2005,
reconnaît à juste titre que la confiance du public « est acquise
lorsque les citoyens sont convaincus que les autorités protègeront
et serviront l’intérêt général ». La seule manière d’évaluer le
degré de confiance consiste à prendre pour référence la capacité
des pouvoirs publics à déterminer l’intérêt général et, à partir de
là, à élaborer et à mettre en oeuvre des mesures appropriées.
Toutefois, ce rôle central de l’intérêt général dans le
renforcement de la confiance du public semble absent du cadre
ministériel actuel. Au lieu d’aborder la question sous l’angle
initial de l’intérêt général, la note sur les questions à examiner
laisse entendre que les pouvoirs publics devraient répondre aux
attentes des citoyens, qui, à leur tour, sont considérées comme
diverses, et « même contradictoires ». La citoyenneté est
considérée ici comme l’empilement de différents statuts au sein de
la société : un citoyen est un salarié, un contribuable, un
investisseur, un consommateur, un utilisateur final des services
publics et un électeur.
...
[1] “Main Issues for Discussion”, Meeting of the Public Governance Committee at Ministerial Level - Rotterdam, 27-28 November 2005 – GOV/PGC/MIN(2005)2