Photo:
TASS/Sergei Konkov
A public servant may prohibit publicly criticize the leadership and will only require neutrality in respect of political parties even during off hours, including on the Internet. These amendments, with the participation of the expert community developed by the Ministry of labour and social protection of the population, will be made to “General principles of official conduct of civil servants”.
The office “Izvestia” explained that guided by the instructions of the President given to the government in April last year as part of the adoption of the national anti-corruption plan for 2016-2017. The Ministry of labor, in particular, instructed to prepare proposals on “ensuring daily monitoring of compliance with ethical norms and rules”.
The head of the Department of state policy in the sphere of state and municipal service of the Ministry of labor of Russia Dmitry Basak told “Izvestia” that a concrete proposal should appear before 1 July 2017.
At this stage we are working on various approaches and proposals with the participation of expert and scientific community. Participate in the discussion of the Federal Executive bodies, the Institute of legislation and comparative law under the government of the Russian Federation, the Russian Academy of state service under the President and expert structure, he said.
Polite, but not chatty
One of the participants of the working group, told “Izvestia” that the forthcoming changes are to be made to “General principles of official conduct of civil servants”. This document was approved by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 2002, the last changes were made in 2009 by the decree of the President.
Under the current wording of the official document ordered to be conscientious worker, friendly and correct with respect to the citizens. In the political sphere, the civil servant ordered to observe a neutrality excluding possibility of influence on its service activities by political parties.
The project proposed by the Ministry of labour amendments to the “General principles of official conduct of public servants” (“News”) last week was sent to the expert Council under the government of RF, Ministry of economic development and the Institute of legislation and comparative law under the government of the Russian Federation with a request to provide feedback as soon as possible.
It is expected that the changes will primarily affect civil servants management team who carry out the “organization of labour, the discipline, the application of measures of encouragement and imposition of disciplinary penalties”.
According to the current document, the officials-the heads have a responsibility to prevent and resolve conflicts of interests, to prevent corruption and to make sure that their subordinates were not forced to participate in the activities of political parties and public associations.
Now, this list is proposed to add two rules. The first urges to be guided by established principles and in off-duty time (including when using the Internet) and to prevent the Commission of acts capable of inflicting damage to the reputation of the official, and the authority of the Agency as a whole. The second requires daily monitoring of compliance with these principles subordinates.
Moral perfection
Inappropriate the reputation of the official is often the factor that triggers corruption crime, says Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on security Anatoly Vyborny (“United Russia”).
— Persons holding high positions in the public service, the public people that serve their country, just have to be impeccable in terms of morality — they represent the state power. You need to remember that the civil service is and honor and a huge responsibility to represent this or that state structure and authority. And not only in the workplace, but also beyond, as well as in the virtual space of social networks, — said the interlocutor of “Izvestia”.
He stressed that it is not about creating the image of morally irreproachable servant, and that he actually became one.
— Maybe it’s an ideal picture, but a healthy society, we must begin “from the head”. Probably, we will not achieve perfect behavior, without exception, all officials at one time, but the creation of a positive reputation of civil servants is a good preventive measure against corruption, — said Anatoly Vyborny.
The official is head of state and remains after the end of the day, including in social networks, says expert the direction of “Institutions and society”, Centre for strategic research Ksenia Yashina.
— Photos in an indecent, obscene comments about behavior, as messages with direct accusations against the leadership and the government, tarnished the image of the civil servant. Therefore, employees with low and medium level, usually, it is recommended to adhere strictly to these restrictions if they decide to specify the social networking place of work. The same applies to participation in public events, she explained.
However, according to Ksenia Yashin, such restrictions should not apply to religious or political beliefs. In her opinion, this greatly limits the circle of potential candidates for the position, but also demotivates employees already assigned.
Expert OIG Andrey Maksimov notes that civil servants in his position must maintain a certain political neutrality.
They have the right to have their political position, but it should not go beyond their private circle, as they are official bodies of the government and shall strictly follow the adopted at the state level decisions, he said.
Andrey Maksimov has noted that the principle of political neutrality of civil servants today is implemented in the legislation of many countries. As a result, many of the “technocratic” positions rarely occurs rotation, and servants-technocrats become virtually irremovable, whereas in Russia the change of personnel in the appointment of the new head is a daily occurrence.