Tahiri in Paris: There is no successful decentralisation without a strong central level

The Executive Director of the Kosovo Local Government Institute (KLGI), Besnik Tahiri, on Friday presented at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs KLGI’s analysis of the level of decentralisation in the Western Balkan countries, in particular elements from Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia.

At the conference Tahiri stressed that successful decentralisation is impossible without a strong central level that governs on the principles of good governance.

At the same time he stressed that in the Western Balkan states the rhetoric of decentralisation is much stronger than action on the ground.

He explained that the Balkans must move from political to functional decentralisation.

According to Tahiri, a functional review of decentralisation is needed throughout the region, carried out systematically, sector by sector and functional area by functional area.

“Otherwise, municipal and national government entities will continue to operate with weakened services and a declining level of transparency and accountability at both levels of government,” Tahiri underlined.

Speaking about Kosovo, he presented three good practices: inter-municipal cooperation as a good opportunity for local development; the document ‘Roadmap for effective local governance’; and the Territorial Employment Pact implemented by the UNDP office in Kosovo.

The conference, organised by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ALDA and UNDP, brought together more than 70 participants over two days from Europe and other countries that are part of this network.