Croatia, a favourable model for reforming local government

During a five-day visit to Croatia, participants in the Local Governance Academy organised by the Kosovo Local Government Institute (KLGI) became acquainted with a functional model of local government distinguished by efficient, decentralised budget policymaking that directly favours citizens, and characterised by full autonomy in policy development and in implementing policies from the national to the local level, in close cooperation with the central level.

15–20 June 2015, Croatia. As part of the Local Governance Academy, the 4th generation of this programme designed and implemented by the Kosovo Local Government Institute, a study visit to Croatia by 40 elected and executive representatives from various Kosovo municipalities, participants in the Local Governance Academy (LGA), was successfully completed.

During the five-day visit, in separate working meetings and discussions with senior state officials of local government, central institutions and representatives of the international presence in that country, the Local Governance Academy participants were able to examine closely the Croatian model of local government and the achievements and challenges of this model.

Specifically, from these meetings the Local Governance Academy participants learned about: the work of the Zagreb prefecture, the role of the Zagreb Assembly, the importance of Zagreb’s regional level known as the Županija, local government in Rijeka, and the functions of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Integration. During this visit the Local Governance Academy participants were also able to become closely acquainted with the missions of the Norwegian Embassy and with the staff of the Fridrich Erbert Stiftung (FES) in Croatia.

As a result of the joint study work on this visit, the Local Governance Academy participants, the Executive Director of the Kosovo Local Government Institute, Mr Besnik Tahiri, and the management staff of the Local Governance Academy programme conclude that:

· Local government in Croatia has elements comparable with local government in Kosovo. Despite the differences from the model of local government in Kosovo, the Croatian model is designed to ensure the most efficient democratic representation possible and to serve economic development. In this regard two important elements are worth singling out: budget policymaking and better targeting of disadvantaged groups, and the existence of regional structures whose core function is to ensure that local development is as balanced as possible;

· In terms of formal regulation, the Croatian model, just like Kosovo’s, is based on European principles and regulations concerning local government; however, while the Croatian model is designed to be a functional and efficient model, as demonstrated by the countless successes of local governments in Croatia, in Kosovo local government, owing to a lack of functionality, is failing to deliver efficiently results that directly affect citizens’ lives. Part of this lack of functionality is the complex and bureaucratic relationship between the local and central levels in Kosovo, which is not the case with the Croatian model;

· Whereas the Croatian model, besides fiscal decentralisation accompanied by the independence of local government bodies in planning and managing financial resources, also ensures efficient practices in implementing and operationalising policies supported by these financial practices, in Kosovo’s model of local government we have a large discrepancy between the devolution of competences to the local level and a tendency of the central level to centralise funds;

· Unlike Kosovo’s model of local government, in which the Mayor at local government level is a somewhat arbitrary and dictating model of the mayoral role, to the detriment of the institution of the Assembly, the Croatian model aims to offer a balance in both planning and implementation, enabling the Mayor to have, to a certain extent, functional independence backed by finances, but only to a certain extent. In the Croatian model, where the Assembly and the Mayor do not have harmonised financial policies, elections are seen as the solution. In Kosovo, this whole process continues to remain distorted and accompanied by deadlocks and an undesirable quality of democracy and governance;

· Unlike Kosovo, where local government is not a focus of the central institutions, the Croatian model of local government is designed to translate national and sectoral plans efficiently. Moreover, in implementing these plans, central and local institutions act in partnership, and this is not a common practice in Kosovo.

It should be noted that the full list of findings from this study visit, as well as of the topics covered during the Local Governance Academy IV programme, will be the subject of a public discussion in the near future.

The Kosovo Local Government Institute, together with the participants of the Local Governance Academy Programme, is expected to host return visits by representatives of local government in Kosovo.

The Local Governance Academy is a training programme that aims to strengthen the capacities and quality of local governance at the level of Kosovo, and is supported by the Norwegian Embassy in Kosovo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

Public relations office of the KLGI Institute