Merit Bill, Italy Senate: the merit-based reform of the public administration is now law. With the Senate’s final approval, Parliament has passed the bill strongly championed by Minister of Public Administration Paolo Zangrillo, which aims to reform the evaluation, career advancement, and selection criteria for public employees.
The stated goal is to move beyond a system in which, according to the government, career advancement has too often been tied to seniority, instead introducing criteria that prioritize results, skills, and managerial abilities. This shift, as intended by the executive branch, should make the public sector more efficient and more attractive, especially to young professionals.
“If you want to attract young people to work in the public administration, the best approach is to focus on merit,” Zangrillo told Libero after the law’s approval, explaining that the younger generations are seeking above all “career opportunities and adequate salaries” .
Merit Bill, Italy Senate: More Opportunities for Professional Growth
The bill primarily addresses public management but introduces changes intended to impact the entire personnel management system. The guiding principle is simple: those who demonstrate organizational skills, achieve assigned objectives, and invest in their own training should have greater opportunities for professional growth than those who merely do the bare minimum. Among the most significant changes is the strengthening of individual performance evaluations. The measurement of results becomes, in fact, one of the central elements for both the assignment of positions and for salary and career advancement. The idea is to build a system in which the quality of work performed genuinely influences career prospects.
The Evaluation System Is Changing
One of the most significant innovations concerns the evaluation system itself. The law introduces a 30% cap on “excellent” ratings—those that grant access to reward mechanisms. “Today, 99% of staff receive a positive rating: saying that they are all good is like saying that, deep down, none of them are,” the minister observed. “The result is that there is no incentive to improve through work or to focus on reward mechanisms.” The bill also changes the selection process for senior management. Experience and seniority alone will no longer be sufficient to qualify for top positions: greater emphasis will be placed on demonstrated competencies, the ability to lead administrative structures, a knack for innovation, and human resources management.
The possibility of pursuing internal career paths
Among the most debated aspects is the possibility of placing greater emphasis on internal career advancement. The reform provides that a portion of promotions may occur through professional growth achieved on the job, without relying exclusively on a new public competitive exam. This decision has fueled political and legal debate. Zangrillo, however, rejects the criticism. “The reform does not abolish competitive exams,” he explained. “However, it provides that 30% of promotions may occur through internal advancement, after at least five years of service and with a positive evaluation by a randomly selected external committee.” And in response to accusations of potential favoritism, he states: “The process discourages any form of favoritism.”
The Issue of Training
Continuing education becomes another pillar of the reform. The government views professional development as a strategic tool to support the digital transformation of the public administration and address new organizational challenges. For this reason, the training program is closely linked to skills assessment and professional growth. The measure also addresses the system for managerial appointments, introducing criteria aimed at making the procedures for appointment and renewal more transparent. According to the legislature’s intent, appointments should be more closely linked to achieved results and less influenced by automatic processes or administrative customs.
Another objective of the reform is to strengthen the internal mobility of talent. Government agencies will be encouraged to recognize employees who demonstrate particular skills, fostering more dynamic career paths than in the past. The rationale is to identify and retain talent, preventing the most qualified individuals from seeking better opportunities exclusively in the private sector.
Results Already Achieved
The minister also highlights the results achieved in recent years in terms of modernizing the public sector. According to data provided by Zangrillo himself, the average age of civil servants has dropped from 52 to 48, the average duration of competitive exams has been reduced from about 780 days to four months, and the public administration workforce has begun to grow again thanks to approximately 650,000 new hires.
However, the fundamental question remains: is changing the rules enough to truly transform the organizational culture of the public sector? It is precisely on this point that the debate between supporters and critics of the reform continues to focus. While everyone agrees on the need to value skills and results, the debate over the tools chosen by the government to achieve this goal is much more heated.
Meritocracy or a new bureaucracy? The debate remains open
While it is difficult to find opponents of the principle of merit, opinions are much more divided regarding the tools introduced by the law. For Zangrillo, the reform represents a paradigm shift intended to make the public administration more modern and competitive. In defending the measure, the minister also emphasized that parliamentary criticism came mainly from the opposition, noting that the bill was challenged on the floor by Senators Susanna Camusso and Annamaria Furlan. At the same time, he claims to have successfully completed the renewal of public-sector contracts with broad union support.
Forum PA also views the reform’s framework positively. According to analysts at the think tank, the measure seeks to shift the focus from mere administrative management to organizational leadership. Management is called upon not only to comply with procedures and requirements but also to develop managerial skills, the ability to innovate, and people management skills.
Unadis is also in favor, albeit with some reservations; however, it emphasizes that the reform’s success will depend above all on its concrete implementation and the ability to build truly uniform and verifiable evaluation systems.
Fears of Excessive Discretion
This is precisely the point on which critics insist. Many observers note that even the current legislation provides for performance evaluation systems, but that in practice these have often produced almost uniformly positive evaluations. Others fear that expanding internal promotions may increase the scope for discretion in selecting future leadership. The real challenge, therefore, will unfold in the coming months, when the implementing decrees and the specific procedures for applying the new evaluation and career advancement criteria are finalized. Because merit isn’t achieved simply by writing it into a law: it will depend on the ability of government agencies to apply transparent rules, credible evaluations, and truly effective reward systems.