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Four ministries to move under common roof.
Editorial: united fiefdom
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By 2016, an enormous edifice ought to arise, housing ministries of finance, economic affairs/communications, social affairs, and justice. In its related press release, State Real Estate Ltd (RKAS) stresses the keyword «economy»: in ten years, a whopping €8m will be saved on account of operation and maintenance costs of buildings.
Maybe the economy is as claimed. Maybe a little less or slightly more. More important and profitable, perhaps, would be our officials coming together in a closer organisational culture. Not equalling a merger of organisations, of course; rather a joint mental space – a pillar for effectiveness of state.
The construction planned well serves the goal of RKAS, created a dozen years back to more effectively manage state real estate. Constantly, the government has been emphasising the need to keep public sector costs under control. This ought to include the understanding that an Estonian ministry needs not a separate castle to function effectively, with a parking lot for luxury cars and its very own restaurant.
All kinds of premises and support services can successfully be shared by administrative agencies. Also, the current ministry buildings are coming of age and would be needing renovation, including Ministry of Finance also prescribed to be part of the new building complex.
In the Estonia of today, roles and functions of ministries have been cemented and the institutions themselves strengthened; however, there is a dark side to this. Namely: the ever stronger ministries, supposedly fighting for a common cause, have occasionally appeared up in arms at each other.
Such fiefdom mentality – as expressed and condemned at his end-of-year interview by President Toomas Hendrik Ilves – has been evident both in budget talks and draft legislation rounds, with staff of one ministry unashamedly looking down on another... just short, perhaps, of throwing spanners in the fellows works. Often, we hear, officials will jestingly call other establishments «competing companies».
The common working environment to be will, hopefully, serve to cross such artificial barriers. And to point back to the oft-forgotten truth that this is public service, actually... pulling the same cart.