This report was prepared by the Directorate for Public Governance (GOV), led by Elsa Pilichowski, Director, and Janos Bertok, Deputy Director, with the contribution of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, specifically by the Regional Development and Multi-Level Governance Division, led by Dorothée Allain-Dupré. The report was drafted under the strategic direction of Martin Forst, Head of Public Governance Reviews and Partnerships Division, and Sara Fyson, Head of Unit, Public Governance Reviews (GOV) with additional guidance and inputs provided by Daniel Trnka (GOV). Overall, project management was led by Arnault Prêtet; project co-ordination was led by Carla Musi and Johannes Klein for GOV and Isidora Zapata for CFE.
The OECD Secretariat wishes to express its gratitude to the Ministry of Interior, and in particular to Mr Petr Schlesinger and Jana Ticháčková who coordinated the project for the Czech Republic with the support of Jakub Jaňura, under the guidance of Deputy Minister David Sláma. They have both shown dedication and commitment, including providing guidance, mobilising all relevant stakeholders and supporting the logistics. Key contributors from the different teams of the Ministry of Interior and the Central Crisis Staff include particularly Deputy Minister for Civil Service Jindřich Fryč, as well as Renata Brožková, Zuzana Brücknerová, Štěpánka Cvejnová, Michal Czudek, Radka Domanská, Marek Jetmar, Petr Jirman, Tomáš Johanovský, Alena Klímová, Iva Kocourková, Martin Koňařík, Vít Kunický, Kristián Malina, Michal Richtr, Tomáš Šedivec as well as Jiří Procházka and Jana Kuklová from the General Directorate of Fire and Rescue Service. The OECD would like to thank the Office of the Prime Minister, particularly David Havlíček, Oldřich Körner and Daniel Münich. The OECD would like also to thank the teams of the Government Office, particularly the representatives of the Government Agenda Department, the Department of the Cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization, the Department of Government Legislation, the RIA unit, the RIA Board, the Department of Human Rights and Protection of Minorities and the different Councils under the Government Office. Special thanks go to Michal Šalomoun, Minister for Legislation, Karel Blaha, Deputy Minister for Legislation, Marek Havrda, Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Jan Kněžínek, Deputy Minister and Director of the Section of the Government Legislative Council, Štěpán Jurajda, Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, as well as Andrea Baršová, Monika Callerová, Tomáš Dundr, Blanka Espinoza, Hana Fungačová, Jiří Holík, Jiřina Jílková, Jan Kravčík, Alexandra McGehee and Pavel Ptáčník for their continuous support. The Secretariat also wishes to acknowledge the contributions from the different Ministries and agencies, and particularly Richard Juřík, Jan Mareš, Martin Polášek, Veronika Rampírová from the Ministry of Environment, Věra-Karin Brázová, Miroslav Daněk and Jana Drlíková from the Ministry of Regional Development, Adam Gazda and František Kučera from the Ministry of Justice, Jaroslava Hejdová from the Ministry of Health, Stanislav Volčík from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Deputy Minister Jiří Valenta, Kateřina Helikarová, Alexandra Hrstková, Miroslav Matej and Tomáš Sluka from the Ministry of Finance, Vojtěch Podhorský and Martin Rataj from the Ministry of Trade and Petr Jiříček from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The team also expresses its appreciation to Dominik Hrubý from the Association of Local Municipalities, Miroslav Mocek from the Association of Regions, and Monika Štěpánová from the Union of Towns and Municipalities as well as to representatives of particular municipalities, David Lísal and Tomáš Veselý from the City of Prague, Petr Štika from the City of Brno, and Ivo Minařík from the South Moravia Region.
The OECD would further like to thank the respondents of the questionnaire which provided the evidence for this report and the participation in the fact-finding and sound boarding missions. During two fact-finding missions and a Sounding Board mission, the OECD conducted in-depth interviews and meetings with a representative sample of line Ministries, agencies, Councils and non-governmental organisations, particularly Svatava Janoušková from Národní síť zdravých měst, Šárka Homfray and Rudolf Pospíšil from the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, Karina Kubelková from the Chamber of Commerce and Petr Bouchal, Ladislav Fruehauf and David Ondračka from České priority. These interviews were instrumental in further improving the OECD’s understanding of the Czech context and helping to recommend courses of action that reflect national, sectoral, regional and local priorities.
The OECD would also like to extend its gratitude to the peer reviewers and experts, who provided invaluable inputs and shared the experience of their respective countries during different missions held in the Czech Republic in 2022:
Ireland: Niall Leavy, Head of Market Engagement, Irish Public Appointments Service;
Slovak Republic: Matej Kurian, former Deputy Head of the Slovak Analytical Unit Value for Money, Government of Slovakia;
Estonia: Keit Kasemets, former Strategy Director, Government Office, Estonia.
This publication is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants.
This publication is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants. The OECD would like to thank in particular Dimitra Fellner for her support and guidance on the project. The OECD would also like to thank the Embassy of Norway in the Czech Republic especially H.E. Victor Conrad Rønneberg, H.E. Robert Kvile and Per Øystein Vatne.
The OECD Secretariat wishes to express its gratitude to Ota Melcher, Economic and Financial Counsellor at the Delegation of the Czech Republic to the OECD who provided invaluable guidance and insights during the review.
The OECD would like to further thank Patricie Klimešová Vlachová and Lucie Kubíčková for the interpretation and translation services provided throughout the Review.
A number of authors drafted the report. The overview chapter was prepared by Arnault Prêtet with inputs from Urban Sila, OECD Economics Department (ECO). Chapter 1 on citizen participation was written by David Goessmann. Chapter 2 on the coordination and strategic planning led by the centre of government was written by Teresa Lazzaroni Andina under the guidance of Arnault Prêtet. Paul Davidson and Daniel Trnka drafted the chapter on evidence-informed policymaking, with comments provided by Claire Salama. Isidora Zapata, Yingyin Wu and Michael Duffy (CFE), under the supervision of Isabelle Chatry and Maria Varinia Michalun (CFE), and Johannes Klein (GOV) drafted Chapter 4 on the public administration at the regional and local levels. Chapter 5 on human resources management was written by Dónal Mulligan. Seong Ju Park wrote Chapter 6 on the digitalisation of the public administration in the Czech Republic. Carla Musi wrote Chapter 7 on the COVID-19 case study with the support of Javier Baraibar and inputs from Jack Radisch and John Roche. Ciara Muller prepared the manuscript for publication. Gabriella Scaduto-Mendola and Barbara Acs provided administrative support. Jennifer Allain provided editorial support.