Study visit to the Republic of Macedonia

Venue: Republic of Macedonia
Date: 26–28 December 2012

Topic:

• Decentralisation in the Republic of Macedonia: lessons learned from the process

Lecturers / Speakers

Rizvan Sylejmani, former Minister of Local Government in Macedonia

Sadi Bexhetin, Mayor of the Municipality of Tetovo

Prof. Dr. Vullnet Ameti, Rector of the University of Tetovo
Prof. Dr. Zamir Dika, Rector of South East European University
Mr Hazbi Idrizi, Mayor of the Municipality of Bogovinje
Prof. Dr. Rufi Osmani, Mayor of the Municipality of Gostivar

Visits:

Visit to the Municipality of Tetovo; visit to the University of Tetovo; visit to South East European University; visit to the Public Enterprise; visit to the Municipality of Bogovinje; visit to the Municipality of Gostivar.

On the study visit to Macedonia organised by the Local Governance Academy

Within the framework of the first module of the Local Governance Academy, a study visit programme to the Republic of Macedonia was organised from 26 to 28 December 2012.

The purpose of this visit was to draw lessons and good practices from the decentralisation process in the Republic of Macedonia. During the visit, participants met the mayors of the Municipalities of Tetovo, Gostivar and Bogovinje, representatives of academic life at South East European University, and had an exceptionally interesting meeting with the former Minister of Local Government, Rizvan Sylejmani.

The visit included several activities, such as numerous meetings with mayors and municipal officials, at which the decentralisation process in the Republic of Macedonia and the structuring of municipal governance were seen at close quarters; the differences and similarities with the Republic of Kosovo in the organisation of municipal administration were also identified, at almost all levels of government.

Participants visited the municipal public enterprise in Tetovo, where they observed a different organisational model from that of municipal enterprises in Kosovo. This enterprise belongs to the conservative type of organisation, in which all municipal services (water supply, sewerage, cleaning and green spaces) are concentrated in a single enterprise with a single governing body.

Seen at close quarters, this governance model of the municipal enterprise appeared non-functional, because service delivery to citizens is not at the appropriate level, there is an administration overloaded with officials, and inadequate reporting lines were observed at the managerial levels of the enterprise in question.

Among all these problems, the General Director presented a poor picture of revenue collection, which was very low, approximately 17% of the planned annual revenue. It was also clearly seen during the visit that decentralisation in Albanian municipalities had a discriminatory character, particularly in the allocation of the annual budget among municipalities. Moreover, many services that should in reality have been transferred to the municipal level are still within the competence of the central level of government, e.g. building permits, management of municipal property, etc. The visit also included a lecture given by the former Minister of Local Government, Mr Rizvan Sylejmani, who at the start of his lecture on the decentralisation process in the Republic of Macedonia said: “Decentralisation is not fate but our choice”. This gave me to understand that citizens in the Republic of Macedonia, especially Albanians, do not see decentralisation as a process of delivering services to citizens, but rather as an imposition and a territorial division of the community.

According to the European Charter on decentralisation, there are two tendencies that drive a state to decentralise local government:

a. Decentralisation seen as an instrument for delivering services to citizens; and
b. Decentralisation as a political instrument for representing the identity of the community (which includes the cultural element and an increase in community representatives in decision-making).

However, this did not happen in Macedonia, stresses the former minister Prof. Rizvan Sylejmani; rather, decentralisation in Macedonia came as a result of pressure from outside, and not from a real assessment of the state’s need to decentralise power.

After the armed conflict in the Republic of Macedonia between the Albanian and Macedonian communities, the first steps were taken in creating a decentralisation strategy, aimed on the one hand at bringing the conflict to a settlement and on the other at fulfilling political goals, including the integration of the Albanian minority in Macedonia and its territorial organisation, stressed Professor Rizvan Sylejmani.

The Ohrid Agreement further specifies that, for decentralisation in the Republic of Macedonia to be functional, it must be based on two main principles, in full accordance with the European Charter: the delivery of municipal services closer to citizens, and the political or representative principle whereby the majority community takes decisions about a given territory; however, there has been a marked delay in the full implementation of this agreement, stresses the former minister.

Under the law on local government and the law on territorial division in the Republic of Macedonia, there are 124 municipalities.