“The cornerstone of democracy is that power holders’ accountability is congruent with their power and that they must follow the rules they set for others. Public administration has become extensive and society demands that it protect the public interest by upholding strong welfare-, health-, and education systems. The authorities are also expected to maintain economic stability and regulate business. Ministers have most power within the system and this entails accountability,” says lawyer Sigurður Kári Árnason who examined the legal grounds for this accountability in his master’s thesis on the duty of ministers to act to protect public interest on the basis of their managerial and supervisory discretion.
Árnason says that the economic crash of the autumn of 2008 had a strong influence on his studies and his attitude towards the study of law on the whole. His interest in the subject of the thesis was sparked when he attended a lecture with Tryggvi Gunnarsson, the Althing Ombudsman, on the system of public administration and accountability within it.
The study deals with the power and accountability of ministers in public administration. A key point is the responsibility of ministers to take proactive measures to protect public interest. “The study is in some ways connected to the economic crash and its wake, but it also concerns a wider range of issues – for example whether ministers are obliged to take certain preventive actions, such as evacuation in cases of volcanic eruptions or response measures in the case of an epidemic,” says Árnason.
The conclusion of the study is that ministers – the heads of public administration – are duty bound to protect public interest. Ministers’ supervision on institutions must be in sync with their accountability vis à vis Althing. “The law is, however, not entirely clear concerning the duties of ministers regarding the provision of information and truth in their communication with Althing. In my opinion this duty is necessary to ensure that Althing receives important information enabling it to react with legislation and decisions that can protect public interest; the interest of the citizens who have given Althing the mandate to take such decisions. This ensures a sensible chain of accountability and supervision, nevertheless in such a long chain with many links things may go wrong – if one of the links fails,” says Árnason.
Supervisor: Trausti Fannar Valsson, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law.
