Prime Minister Edi Rama has presented a new reform for the public administration, dubbed the “Ladder of Merit,” promising entry through national testing, merit-based career advancement and greater responsibility for managers. But beyond its packaging as a meritocratic reform, the government’s statements still leave open the main question: how will it be guaranteed that the new filters do not remain simply another mechanism controlled from above.
The three pillars presented by the government
According to the version presented by Rama, the reform is built on three pillars: entry into the administration through national testing, career advancement based on merit, and accountability in the leadership of institutions.
He said the aim is for the evaluation and management of employees not to remain in the hands of a single manager, but to become a systemic process. In essence, the government claims it is seeking to intervene in the way administrative employees are recruited, promoted and measured.
National testing and four-year certification
One of the central points of the reform is national testing for entry into the administration. According to Rama, this testing will be carried out in cooperation with the Center for Educational Services, which is adopting the Cambridge exam model.
Those who pass successfully will be provided with a certificate valid for four years and will then continue competing for the respective positions. The government presents this as a knowledge filter, but concrete details have still not been given on how this process will be administered, supervised and controlled.
The message for managers after the resignations
Rama also focused on the process of evaluating managers, carried out a few days earlier, in which, according to him, hundreds of managers were subjected to an analysis of their work results.
Commenting on the departures and resignations, he said this was not about formal replacements with the logic of “remove one and bring another,” but about identifying areas where work has faltered and where results have been weaker for the state. According to him, where problems are repeated there must be consequences.
The new ministry, talent registry and use of AI
The head of government said the new Ministry of Administration will make continuing the reform and implementing the “Ladder of Merit” a priority. In this package he mentioned the catalogue of competencies, the national talent registry and an instrument called “MeritAI.”
According to his explanation, people who want to contribute to the administration will register and be informed in real time about competitions according to their profession and field of knowledge. Rama insisted that artificial intelligence will not decide who leaves or who joins, but will be used to increase transparency and link personnel moves to the standards of the reform.
A promise of meritocracy, with few answers on implementation
In his remarks, Rama acknowledged that there is skepticism toward the initiative and sought to compare it with changes that, according to him, took place earlier in the university system. He argued that the same logic will also be extended to the administration.
However, at this stage the government has offered more political messaging than publicly verifiable mechanisms to prove that recruitment, promotion and sanctions in the administration will truly be separated from the influence of managers and party interests. It is precisely here that the “Ladder of Merit” is expected to be tested as to whether it is a functional reform or another rebranding of the administration.
Rama presented this phase as part of preparing the administration for EU standards and for the state’s current needs. But beyond the statements, the real value of the reform will be measured by the concrete rules, the transparency of procedures and the possibility that the administration will not once again be treated as territory for political appointments.