The impact of fiscal crisis on public administration in Europe

This chapter outlines the responses of European governments to the recent fiscal crisis with special focus on the effects of crisis on public administration reforms. The empirical analysis relies upon an international comparative study of the responses of 14 European governments to the fiscal crisis in the period of 2008-2013. Findings show that fiscal crisis and public administration reforms are not necessarily closely connected, as the crisis intensified the pressure to reform public administration to some extent, but the European governments’ responses to crisis predominantly followed a combination of straightforward cutbacks and incremental change. More substantial reforms were carried out in countries most severely hit by the crisis and/or where administrative reforms were conditioned by the international financial assistance.

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