Recent investigations by De Groene’s investigative journalists into 130,000 government vacancies in ministries and executive agencies have produced a disconcerting picture of the selection criteria: the well-known meritocracy would be replaced by a political “spoil-system” not too different from the one known in Italy.
The public administration itself is increasingly criticizing these recruitment criteria: serving the public interest thus becomes completely subordinated to political interests, which may even go against the public interest of citizens, writes Joop.
These public administration selection criteria have been applied and implemented under Prime Minister Rutte’s cabinets: a stop to personal responsibilities and an objective analysis of many administrative crises.
As absurd as it may seem, the official oath that civil servants take does not include anything about serving the public interest and so, the interpretation ends up being: loyalty to their political leader comes before that to the citizen.