Relevance of "Western European public administration reforms" on Transition countries - ‘who learns what from whom?

Prevailing opinions by OECD advisers addresses the process of changes in PA and the efforts towards ‘harmonization' between the domestic patterns and the new transferred principles of modernization as NPM - an universal panacea for the problems of public administrations in transition countries, without paying substantial attention to the relevant implementation gaps for some levels as well as areas of reform. Aiming to verify the ‘convergence' of NPM principles in different national contexts, the ‘lessons learned' from different awarding initiatives supporting innovation exchange programs between the central governments and other joint initiatives between Italy and Romania as examples of cooperation programs for modernization of the public sector are analyzed. The study reviews, beyond certifying the quite different institutional backgrounds and administrative cultures in both countries:1) the markedly features of the public sector innovation programs, drivers and reform trends; 2) the ‘common steps' and ‘who learns what from whom?' in last two decades of rapid ‘public management innovation strategy', exchanged between the OECD- EU countries and the reformers in post-communist countries. Although, the importance of moving away from traditional structures towards a more efficient and accountable management system as well as the challenges arising from dichotomy between Western convergence and transition country-specific restructuring of the public sector are of primary importance.