Supporting municipalities strengthens the foundations of Kosovo’s European model

As the KLGI Institute approaches a decade of work, at our annual end-of-year event we would like to share with you some observations on the state of local governance:

– The legislation produced for municipalities 10 years ago was necessary for the political and strategic aims of the state and of independence, as well as for the accommodation of minorities;
– 10 years later, the situation on the ground shows that this framework has expired, that municipalities have evolved, and that the future policy and legislative framework needs to turn municipalities into generators of development;

Here are three key issues that have been chain challenges for municipalities for a decade now:

1. Legal ambiguities and inconsistencies are hindering sustainability and services in municipalities

– According to our assessments, 52 laws impose various obligations on municipalities, and as a result most municipalities face serious problems in implementation
– In fact, sectoral laws are gradually stripping the basic Law on Local Self-Government, producing ambiguity in implementation for municipalities
– This situation has created many lines of accountability and has caused major problems for mayors.

2. Lack of sustainable funding – weak planning capacities;

– In all its research, the Institute finds evidence that the current municipal funding formula does not guarantee quality services and sustainable development
– The specific grants for education and health have formulas that do not respond to the context and real problems of municipalities and, in our assessment, are wrong
– The financial resources at the discretion of ministries, which are almost equal to the general grant at over (170 million), have no clear allocation criteria and consequently do not produce balanced investment and development
– Of the 38 municipalities, 14 municipalities under 22,000 had to be allocated a corrective contingency of the funding formula in 2016. In other words, these municipalities, lacking sustainable funding, risk being unable to deliver services.

3. Reforms: administration, efficiency and elections

– There are three public administration reform laws that must be passed to regulate equality in titles, pay and promotion. The principle is simple: equal pay for equal work.
– We used to have 8,000 job titles and now we have 3,000;
– There are cases where officials with the same duties have different coefficients and pay. The difference exists both within a municipality and between municipalities;
– Beyond this, launching integrated services is a necessity of our time, as it would avoid a series of obstacles and procedures that are hindering development. This is a mechanism that turns the administration into a generator of development rather than an obstacle to it.
– Strengthening inter-municipal cooperation and coordination and, furthermore, aligning the development agenda between the Assembly and the Executive is the key to success.
– After a protracted process, Kosovo must begin the debate on electoral reform. This also follows from the fact that the current electoral system is seriously contested.

Therefore, a process of in-depth functional analysis and of addressing the issues through reform is essential. This is not just an observation but a mechanism for increasing the credentials of a functional and democratic state.

And, at the same time, a roadmap for the aspiration to join the European family, strengthening the foundations of this model at the local level.

Based on these three pillars, KLGI, with the support of the Norwegian Government, is launching the three-year programme ‘Support for Stronger and Sustainable Municipalities’, which aims to strengthen municipalities and build mechanisms that increase the sustainability of local government.

Finally, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude for all our shared successes, and to say once again that local governance faces great challenges, but not insurmountable ones. So let us look ahead, as we have a great deal of work to do together, and I would like to see similar zeal to what we have here in other initiatives too.