The history of local governance in Kosovo – Relations between the political level and the administration

Venue: Hotel Emerald
Date:23 November 2012

Lecturers

Sadri Ferati, former Minister of Local Government, now Member of Parliament and member of the parliamentary committee on Local Government

Päivi Nikander, former head of the ICO decentralisation office / Senior Adviser on Decentralisation – Local Governance, UNDP

Ardian Zeqiri, Director of ECMI, formerly with the OSCE in Kosovo. Former Democratisation Officer and Local Governance Support Specialist, OSCE

Topics

• The History of Local Government Reform and Decentralisation in Kosovo – Opportunities and Challenges

• Institutionalising minority policies within government – restructuring local governance through decentralisation.

• The Principles of the European Administrative Space; public administration reform strategies in Kosovo; key elements of reform processes in the EU.

• The relationship between the political level and the administration

Sadri Ferati, former Minister of Local Government, now Member of Parliament and member of the parliamentary committee on Local Government

The above-mentioned lecturer stressed that the decentralisation process has been a challenge for Kosovo, as it was conceived as a step towards dividing Kosovo along the lines of its demographic composition. Among other things, he stressed that during its implementation the process was misunderstood by the public as aiming only to satisfy the needs and expectations of non-majority communities in the municipalities where they live.

Decentralisation was largely a top-down policy of the International Community. It was first announced by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo in the period after the 1999 war (in Mitrovica). However, it was only seriously considered after the negotiations on Kosovo’s status led by Martti Ahtisaari. During the status talks and the discussion of decentralisation at the highest level, the beneficiaries and the municipalities affected by this process were not consulted.

Decentralisation in Kosovo was accompanied by challenges because, although it was very clear on paper, in practice its implementation met with a great deal of opposition and was accompanied by protests. All of this stemmed from inadequate information of the public about the decentralisation process and from the lack of work by political parties with the electorate.

The lecturer also highlighted the course of the Contact Group talks held in Vienna in the presence of internationals. He stressed that the municipalities from which the new municipalities were separated, and the new municipalities themselves, were unprepared for the competences and lacked funds; functional administration requires a strategic plan, a strategy with a clear vision for action, and this is something the municipalities lacked. The local elections held in 2000 were an important step in building local government; among other things, the lecturer stressed that most of the political programmes of mayoral candidates did not have a proper strategy containing concrete strategic plans for local development.

These political programmes were dominated mostly by projects such as road asphalting as a priority.

Summing up, Besnik Tahiri stressed that an efficient administration requires building a vision with work plans and strategic programmes that, at their core, contain development strategies for increasing the municipality’s own-source revenue.

Päivi Nikander, former head of the ICO decentralisation office / Senior Adviser on Decentralisation – Local Governance, UNDP

As a participant in the talks on the decentralisation process in Kosovo, she highlighted the obstacles that emerged around the transfer of competences from the central to the local level; first of all, it had to be regulated by law which competences would be transferred to the municipalities. She stressed that it was necessary to regulate this through a working legislative framework, something best defined by the Constitution of Kosovo, as well as by the laws, which must be in harmony with the Constitution.

She mentioned the following laws:

The Law on Administrative Municipal Boundaries
The Law on Local Elections
The Law on Local Self-Government and sectoral laws

She also highlighted the transfer of competences, namely what the central level would hand over to the local level; it was also essential to define the relations between the new municipalities and their mother municipalities. She also explained the own competences, which cover 18 areas; we will mention some of the most important: local economic development, urban and rural planning, land use and development, building control regulations and standards, local environmental protection, public and municipal services, local emergency response, pre-school and secondary education, primary public health services, social welfare, public housing, licensing of local facilities and services such as cultural and recreational activities, food, markets, street vendors, local transport, street naming, public parks, tourism, culture and many others.

In these competences municipalities have full executive powers; but she stressed that some municipalities had their competences increased: in particular, Serb-majority municipalities will have additional own competences in the areas of health, education and cultural matters, and will have the right to participate in the selection of local police station commanders. Meanwhile, some central authorities delegate competences such as cadastral records, civil registers, voter registration, business registration and licensing, the distribution of social assistance payments, and forest protection.

The lecturer stressed that this delegation of competences had a positive impact on the growth of municipal finances, which she presented in tables covering 2008–2012: revenue from own sources was 49% in 2008 and 60% in 2012. She also highlighted the challenges that accompanied the process of forming the new municipalities in relation to their mother municipalities.

To overcome obstacles to the transfer of documentation from the mother municipalities, this was done in agreement with the relevant ministries through the joint signing of Memoranda of Understanding.

Among the challenges in transferring competences, she highlighted the lack of national-level debate on the appropriate level of competences, unclear definition of competences, insufficient funds to accompany the transferred competences, varying capacities of municipalities to perform their functions, less than satisfactory inter-ministerial cooperation, ownership of and cooperation on natural resources and infrastructure, unclear ownership of public property and the slow privatisation process, the slow pace of public administration and the judiciary, and civil servant employment exceeding municipal freedom over staff, etc.

Finally, she stressed that great importance must be given to private sector participation, with public–private partnership being essential, citing as an example the waste management companies that have been returned to the local level, while water companies are half, i.e. regional, and still not properly defined. She stressed that for a peaceful rehabilitation from internal to external authority there must be a strategy accompanied by a clear vision of action (payments – property taxes that must be paid, an efficient judicial system, how to find the key to making citizens willing to pay, etc.)

Ardian Zeqiri, Director of ECMI, formerly with the OSCE in Kosovo. Former Democratisation Officer and Local Governance Support Specialist, OSCE

Among other things, in his presentation he explained the definition of decentralisation as the transfer of power from the central level to a lower, local/peripheral level of government, with the aim of promoting good governance, economic development and efficiency in the delivery of public services, and of accommodating the interests of divergent groups/communities.

The scope of local self-government is also provided for in the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which requires that “public responsibilities shall generally be exercised, in preference, by those authorities which are closest to the citizen. Allocation of responsibility to another authority should weigh up the extent and nature of the task and requirements of efficiency and economy”. This principle is otherwise known as the principle of subsidiarity; accordingly, according to the Charter’s explanatory report, which is an official source, paragraph 3 of Article 4 articulates the general principle that the exercise of public responsibilities should be decentralised. In addition to own competences, the Charter also provides for delegated competences, which include the right and ability of local authorities, within the limits of the law, to regulate and manage a substantial share of public affairs under their own responsibility and in the interests of the local population.

The lecturer stressed that the Charter of Local Self-Government (the Charter) was adopted in the form of a convention by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and was signed as a convention by the member states of the Council of Europe. This Charter was adopted by the Congress of the Council of Europe in 1985. It is the most important international document establishing the principle of local self-government. It has been ratified by 44 of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe, including all members of the European Union.

In his presentation on decentralisation and minorities in Europe, the above-mentioned lecturer said that there is no model that covers all the interests of divergent groups, and he mentioned:

• Local self-government
• Special rights/additional rights
• Personal/cultural autonomy
• Territorial autonomy

Various problems, e.g. discrimination, secessionism, cultural rights and religious rights, which are addressed in different political systems.

Ardian Zeqiri also highlighted the main principles of the Charter, such as:

• the principle of subsidiarity;
• Democratically elected local authorities ;
• Local authorities have competences, except where such a competence is decisively and in writing taken from them by another level;
• Local authorities shall, as far as possible, be consulted and have influence on all policies that affect their interests;
• Local authorities shall have broad competences as regards determining their own internal structures;
• Supervision of their competences shall take only the form of legal supervision, and interventions may only be proportionate;
• Broader supervision is possible as regards competences delegated by the central level;
• Local authorities shall be entitled to adequate financial resources, including the collection of local taxes;
• Local authorities shall have the right to associate with one another ;

All of this aims at the following results :

• Good governance
• Democratisation
• Economic development
• Accountability
• Responsive policies
• Participation
• Improved services

On the decentralisation of communities, he highlighted local ownership. It allows communities to comment on policies that affect their lives. As for protection from the “dictatorship of the majority”, he highlighted the following: protection from the power of the Central Government;
– Economic
– Ethnic
– Physical

Improving the participation of minorities in political processes. The lecturer also highlighted the risks of decentralisation, mentioning that:
– It strengthens and legitimises ethnic divisions – the acceptance of ethnic differences within the same system.
– New minorities are created – the broad rights of communities.
– Implications for state sovereignty – government oversight
– Unsustainable municipalities – the principle of subsidiarity &fiscal decentralisation

It was stressed that among the decisive factors of decentralisation must be political will, participation, the principles of subsidiarity, and fiscal decentralisation.

The lecturer mentioned, or drew, a comparison with the case of Kosovo in the overall building of the state – the Constitution, which provides in:
• Article 2. The Republic of Kosovo is a state of its citizens…
• Article 3.1 The Republic of Kosovo is a multi-ethnic society..
• Article 57. Communities belonging to a national, ethnic, linguistic or religious group traditionally present in Kosovo.

The Constitution sets out special rights and additional rights, together with the mechanism for protecting rights, in Article 5, in addition to the fundamental rights and freedoms set out in Chapter Two ( II ) of the Constitution.

Finally, the lecturer also mentioned the structures of local self-government, citing the following elements:

• Redrawing municipal boundaries: 90% of minority communities living in municipalities where they are the majority;
• Asymmetric devolution of power – additional competences of municipalities;
• Partnership between municipalities;
• Special relations with the Republic of Serbia;