Relations between the political level and the municipal administration

Venue: Hotel Emerald
Date: 15 February 2013

Lecturers:

Prof. Dr. Ita O'Donovan, lecturer at the University of Birmingham and also an expert of the European Commission

Besnik Tahiri, Master of Science in Decentralised Governance and International Development

Fatmir Haxholli, Master of Contemporary European Studies
Topics:

• Central Government – Municipality Relations through the Lens of Public Policy

• The role of line ministries in relation to development at the local level

• The role of the government in coordinating actions for European integration

Prof. Dr. Ita O'Donovan, lecturer at the University of Birmingham and also an expert of the European Commission

Prof. Dr. Ita O'Donovan began her lecture on the topic of relations between the political level and civil servants with the three main components of the Madrid Agreement: transparency, accountability and the legal framework. Accountability of the institution for taking an action, an action that must be fair to all and equally applied, impartial, that is, neutral, whether the institution or some group benefits.

According to her, the centre tends to hold on to things, whereas decentralisation seeks to bring things down, that is, to the citizen, as regards what the service should be like. Services to citizens are very important, and sacrifices must be made so that these services are as broad as possible but at lower cost. She also raised the question of how to make workers more effective!?.

On this point, she stressed the principle of effectiveness, whereby civil servants should think differently. This was the essence of the reforms undertaken in England, Turkey, the Netherlands and other Western European countries, of which she gave examples, as well as in Central and Eastern European countries that emerged from the communist system; the aim was to improve services for citizens. One of the criteria for civil servants was education; if they did not agree with the administrative reforms, they could be let go (as she put it, “there is the door”). Thus the mayor and the management team worked as a team so that the organisation would be effective in delivering services to citizens; she also stressed that this team must believe in what it is going to achieve.

She also gave examples from England, where the British Prime Minister Tony Blair had stressed that municipalities were not doing their job properly, with regard to waste management companies; he asked whether the municipality could have a joint company. This reduction in workers and this way of running companies came about because of the fiscal crisis, which brought difficult decisions on services to citizens, with many services such as environment, social services and education affected by these reforms; for workers who were dismissed or laid off, the state provided social assistance.

The fundamental point, then, is that the official who has taken on the job must implement it, and the responsible individual has been held accountable; accountability is one of the principles of the EU. In political language this is transparency, while the third element is legality and its enforcement. Here we connect to the idea mentioned above, that the centre tends to hold more power while the municipality seeks more competences, precisely in public management of public goods. It was precisely for this reason that Blair had stressed that municipalities were not working properly and wanted citizens to take part in decision-making. According to Besnik Tahiri, it is precisely the crisis that is driving reforms.

Relating this to us in Kosovo, Besnik Tahiri stressed that reforms are very interconnected (a product); first the system must function. If someone is dismissed immediately, they become a social case, because the state is unable to provide assistance in cases of dismissal resulting from administrative reforms, from failure to meet the educational criterion, from irresponsibility at work, from accountability, or from failure to apply consequences. Finally, Mr Tahiri concluded by stressing that we should not think of ourselves as the most important person, but should become part of the whole; however, motivation has generally declined.

Topic II: The principles of the European Administrative Space, public administration reform strategies in Kosovo, and key elements of reform processes in the EU. In the second part of her lecture, Prof. O’Donovan focused on the fact that the Government of Kosovo has adopted the public administration reform strategy:

• It consists of three commitments through which the government will serve citizens and businesses
• To be effective in delivering administrative services
• To be cost-effective and
• To be European in its organisation and working methods

In this lecture she began by noting that we have a mayor, councillors, then directors and civil servants. Mayors and directors belong to a party but act within the municipality.

Balancing things – the system of municipal government must be balanced between the government (the executive) and the municipal assembly. She also stressed that the law needed to hold the executive accountable must be functional, that is, it must ensure accountability.

The budget – in formulating the budget, the executive brings it to the assembly. She gave an example from her own country, where a municipality is governed by parties A, B, C and D. It is handed to civil servants, and the small parties do not have to reveal their plans. Three versions of the budget come to the assembly, and the budget that becomes law is the one that passes with 51 votes. In England there is a legal requirement… those civil servants must demonstrate in the assembly how they formulated it and explain it in detail. The executive budget must pass through the assembly and must contain balancing elements.

In England 192 languages are spoken (by people from different countries who have come to England); it is important to educate them; they have the right to apply for jobs, and if they are not treated fairly they can bring legal proceedings. Civil servants have done the work that is their obligation, recruitment is neutral, and the assembly has the right to hold the executive accountable. The system supports the members of the assembly and must also support the executive in being responsible (accountable). The power of the mayor, the separation of powers (responsibilities), in such a way that information is shared, handled well and passed on to the party (it shows that this leader is good), is politically mature. There must be consequences for the (political) executive and for directors who do not perform properly, so that such a person will no longer hold that position.

The Principles of the European Administrative Space are:

1. Rule of law: legality, reliability and predictability
2. Openness and transparency
3. Legal accountability
4. Efficiency and impartiality

Key elements of reform processes in the EU over the last 20 years:

• Greater focus on results and increased value for money
• Delegation of competences and expanded flexibility
• Strengthened accountability and control
• Client and service orientation
• Strengthened capacities for strategy and development policy
• Introduction of competition and other market elements
• Proper relations with other levels of government

Besnik Tahiri, Master of Science in Decentralised Governance and International Development

The culture needs to change, and (control and monitoring) must be added to the system and be present. The treatment of the assembly is a problem: its members are elected by the people, but on the other hand they act in the assembly as representatives of political parties and are accountable only to the party they belong to; this is where the disconnect from the citizen lies. When you are educated and measured and manage to become a party member, this is called good, wise politics. There must be consequences; if there are no consequences, and someone with a work obligation and responsibility does not do it properly, there will be stagnation in some areas. A political system that has a mechanism of (control and monitoring) and one of motivation (incentives) is good politics. Performance is measured not by when one arrives at and leaves work, but by the services one provides to citizens.

Fatmir Haxholli, Master of Contemporary European Studies

Municipalities must draw up an action plan to meet the criteria required for integration into, or rapprochement with, Europe, in line with the criteria and directives that the EU requires to be met; the central level, in turn, requires this of local government in order to meet these criteria. Local government must adopt acts, and these must be in harmony with national and EU legislation. It was described as essential that the office for citizen services be very dynamic in providing information and services to citizens as efficiently as possible.

Municipalities should make improvements such as:

• Building human capacities
• Local governments do not manage finances and public resources well
• Administration with overloaded staff
• Respect for the competences that the central level has given to the local level (municipalities)

The lecturer, Haxholli, stressed that municipalities must demonstrate, through good planning and data, the criteria required by the central level that municipalities must meet, but so far they have not provided complete data or statistics on how far they have got.

Principles:
Impartiality,
Accountability,

Subsidiarity – for work to be done well it should be transferred to the local level; to measure the administration, performance is about delivering the best service to the citizen.