Press Releases

During a well-attended and entertaining award ceremony which took place this morning at the Provincial Government House in Maastricht, EIPA handed over the European Public Sector Award 2011 to the three winning projects: “Political Management based on Economic Stringency and Strategic Budgets”, submitted by the Bilbao City Council in Spain; “Civil Society Involvement in the Welcoming and Integration of Immigrants – The Case of Portugal”, submitted by the Portuguese High Commission for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue; “ÖkoKauf Wien – EcoBuy Vienna”, submitted by the Department for Environment Protection, Vienna.

On 15-17 November 2011, the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) will be proud to honour the most innovative performers in European public administration with the prestigious European Public Sector Award 2011. This is an award for the best and most innovative public sector performers in the fields of: Smart Public Service Delivery in a Cold Economic Climate; Opening up the Public Sector through Collaborative Governance; and Going Green: Concrete Solutions from the Public Sector. The highlights of this international event will take place at three different venues in Maastricht: the Town Hall of Maastricht, the European Institute of Public Administration headquarters and the Provincial Government Buildings on the Meuse.

Op 15, 16 en 17 november aanstaande zal EIPA (European Institute of Public Administration) met trots de prestigieuze 'European Public Sector Award 2011’ uitreiken aan de meest innovatieve Europese overheidsorganisaties. Het internationale evenement dat rondom deze prijsuitreiking in Maastricht georganiseerd wordt, vindt plaats op drie bekende Maastrichtse locaties: het Stadhuis, het Limburgse Provinciehuis en EIPA’s hoofdkantoor aan het Onze Lieve Vrouweplein. Vertegenwoordigers van lokale, regionale en nationale overheden uit 18 Europese landen en diverse hoogwaardigheidsbekleders zullen aanwezig zijn.

Prof. Dr Marga Pröhl, Director-General of the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), and Peter Goldschmidt, Director of EIPA’s European Centre for Judges and Lawyers, express their support to the European Commission’s Communication on Judicial Training, adopted on 13 September 2011.

The EPSA 2011 Team is pleased to announce that the high-level EPSA 2011 Jury last met on 5 September at EIPA Maastricht to reach the final selection of the 15 nominees (5 per theme) from among the 21 applications that had been visited on-site during June and July. The 15 nominated projects come from nine countries; 9 have been submitted by the local level of government, five by the regional level and one by the national level. These best applications span sectors such as education, health, agriculture, climate change, environment, child care and immigration.

The EPSA 2011 Team at EIPA is pleased to announce that, following the three evaluation steps out of four completed so far, 58 applications from among the 274 submitted have been chosen to receive a Best Practice Certificate. These 58 applications were submitted by 18 countries in total, across the three EPSA 2011 themes.

The EPSA 2011 award contest was officially launched on 17 January 2011 when the call for applications was also opened. The deadline for applications closed on the 13th of April.

The EPSA 2011 Team is pleased to announce that a substantial number of applications were submitted to the 2011 edition. In total, 274 applications from 32 European countries and European institutions were received and are also eligible for the evaluation phase. Top country submitters in the 2011 edition were Spain, Romania, Austria, Italy, Poland and Germany. Out of the 274 applications, 116 came from the local government level, 66 from the regional level, 85 from the national level, and 7 from European institutions.

A report published on PFI/PPP last week by the UK’s National Audit Office highlights several issues raised in EIPA’s book on PPP in September 2007 (“PPP – A decision maker’s guide” by Michael Burnett).

Due to the high demand and interest, EIPA is offering public administrations across Europe more time to submit applications for the European Public Sector Award 2011. The deadline is now extended until 13 April 2011 (24.00hrs CEST)!

On 17 January EIPA officially launched the European Public Sector Award 2011 (EPSA 2011) at the European Commission in Brussels. With an audience of approx. 100 stakeholders from European public administrations, the launch event was opened with a word of welcome by Maroš Šefcovic (SK), Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration in Brussels.