21 April 2026, Budva, Montenegro

ReSPA officially launched the Regional Public Administration Mobility Programme, “Shaping the Future of Public Service – Together,” at the High-Level Berlin Process Meeting in Montenegro, held in Budva on 21 April 2026.

Ministers responsible for public administration reform across the region, through the Chair’s Conclusions, recognised the ReSPA Regional Mobility Programme as an important milestone toward more capable, collaborative, and resilient public administrations, contributing to a shared European future for the region.

As Jelena Mrdak, ReSPA Programme Manager, underlined at the launch: “This initiative is our practical answer to a strategic question: how do we prepare a new generation of public servants to lead reform, deliver better services, and support the journey toward the European Union? Our answer is simple: by pairing peers, by creating real professional mobility, and by turning regional cooperation into everyday administrative practice.”

This flagship regional initiative is designed to strengthen cooperation, institutional capacity, and mutual trust among public administrations in the Western Balkans and Eastern Neighbourhood.

Inspired by the concept of an “Erasmus for civil servants,” the programme pairs peers across administrations and combines executive training with hands-on institutional exchanges. It enables public servants to learn directly from reform experiences, acquire practical governance tools, and build lasting professional networks that support regional integration and EU accession processes.

The initiative contributes to the development of a shared regional administrative space aligned with European standards of public administration. This refers to progressively converging administrative practices grounded in the principles of good administration - legality, transparency, accountability, and service orientation - aligned with EU governance standards.

The programme will be implemented as a three-year initiative (2026–2028) through annual cycles. Each cycle will begin with a call for participants. Eligibility extends to administrations from the Western Balkans and selected Eastern Neighbourhood partners, including Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia, fostering broader regional cooperation and knowledge exchange.

By the end of the three-year period, the programme is expected to engage approximately 100 public servants. It aims to strengthen regional cooperation and mutual understanding among public administrations in the Western Balkans and the Eastern Neighbourhood; enhance professional competencies in key areas of public administration reform; promote peer learning through direct exposure to institutional practices across the region and EU Member States; support alignment with EU accession requirements and European governance standards; foster a sustainable network of reform-oriented public servants; and encourage political and institutional networking across participating administrations.

Find more about the Programme HERE