The Organisation and Functioning of Local Government in Europe

Hotel Emerald
24 September 2014

Lecturers:
• Besnik Tahiri, Director of the Kosovo Local Government Institute
• Jan Braathu, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway
• Norbert Piljs, Programme Manager – DEMOS
• Kai Hofman, GIZ Head of the Local Governance Programme
• Gunter Fehlinger, GIZ Head of the Cadastre team

Topics:
• Types of Local Government in Europe
• The Norwegian Model of Local Government
• The Dutch Model of Local Government
• The German and Austrian Models of Local Government

The Organisation and Functioning of Local Government in Europe

Jan Braathu, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway: It is a pleasure to speak about this field. This region has become part of me at different stages; Norway has an important approach to the region and helps this part of the region in various ways, even though we are far away at the northern edge of Europe. We believe that conflicts affect all of us. Norwegian municipalities in transition: local politics in Norway is important, and referral is a priority. Norway was part of Denmark; we were part of a centralist polity, and decentralisation did not come about by itself. In 1837 the great change came; this period was the time of our independence. In this period we built up local politics; we wanted to be independent because we worked our own land, and we were used to not depending on others.

As early as 1837, 389 municipalities were established. Norway has a state church which once had great influence; even when I was born I had to be baptised in the church, but today this phenomenon has completely faded and does not have the reach it had in 1800–1850. In that period Norway was the poorest country in Europe, but with economic development the number of municipalities began to increase and political transformation began. As a people we are very independent. In 1830 we had 749 municipalities; the government thought this was too many, so in 1897 it reduced them to 451 municipalities, and today, as we speak in 2014, we have 428 municipalities. The government wants to reduce them to 109 municipalities; there have been attempts at a referendum in which the citizens of the municipalities would express their view, but that referendum failed. Municipal councils for 5,000 inhabitants have 11 councillors, while the third-largest city has 83 councillors. We do not directly elect the mayor; we elect only municipal councillors, with the exception of Oslo, which holds a direct election. There is discussion about allowing people from the age of 16 to vote in local elections; the voter must be registered in that municipality. Citizens of the Nordic countries who have lived in a municipality since 30 June have the right to vote; since 1970 free movement of people has been possible.

Elections are based on party lists, and the voter has the right to transfer a candidate from one list to another. In Norway there are 3 official languages, and average election turnout is 64%. The government tries to encourage women into politics because this is very worrying for us: only 22 of the 428 municipalities are led by women. Our municipalities are very small; the state assigns them tasks and a budget, but the territorial size is very large. The average size of a municipality is 11,000 inhabitants; in Britain the average is 17,000 inhabitants and in the EU the average is 5,400 inhabitants. The average territorial size is 710 km2; if the reduction to 109 municipalities is carried out we will have the largest municipalities in the EU, and the large size of a municipality makes it difficult to manage. We have two trends in Norway: in 2020 we will have more pensioners, but we will also have a high birth rate. As a result, municipalities will face children’s healthcare and ever-growing services. Small municipalities have problems delivering services. The government argues that the fewer municipalities there are, the better the services. Norway looks at its neighbours; we have looked at the Danes, who have created large municipalities. Experts have found that the creation of large municipalities in Denmark has not produced results. Inter-municipal cooperation has increased; for example, fire services can be shared by two municipalities, and this cooperation has produced results. We also have cooperation with Nordic municipalities. It is different with Kosovo. I believe this type of cooperation would be good for you too. Citizens in smaller municipalities are happier. 45% of the candidates on a list must be women. In my municipality there was a referendum on merging with another municipality, but the municipality we wanted to merge with did not accept us. Local patriotism in Norway is very strong. Norway has 19 cantons and the government wants to abolish them; the cantons are responsible for secondary education, they supervise the municipalities, and each canton has a governor appointed by the state; municipalities may be managed by the cantons. Most people are not concerned with high politics; they are concerned with the policies that have a direct impact on their neighbourhood. Norway does not have heavy industry; the economy has changed greatly since the 1930s. We give priority to environmental pollution and workers’ wages, and on both of these we are very rigorous.

Norbert Piljs, Programme Manager – DEMOS: Local government in the Netherlands: who is the greatest enemy in the Netherlands? Water. In 1500 there was very extensive cooperation on protection against the sea, and many tasks passed to local government. In 1848 the constitution was structured; we have informal rules; we are a monarchy, but we are a democracy, with arrangements for the monarch. The government is similar to Kosovo’s in terms of how it is formed: the King gives the mandate for forming the government. There is a balanced package of powers; we do not have a constitutional court; we are in the EU and have adopted EU laws. The government is in The Hague. The Netherlands has 12 provinces and 403 municipalities; there used to be even more municipalities.

At all three levels we have a 4-year cycle; we have national parties as well as local parties, which register themselves in the municipalities. The legal framework in Kosovo is good. The municipality has the right to certain policies within its competence, and there is central–municipal cooperation. Central government has social policy, education, etc. The provinces have the same role as the cantons in Norway. The provinces cannot collect taxes. Municipalities have taxes similar to those in Kosovo; the abolition of the provinces is being discussed.

Over the years 800 municipalities have been merged; the state does not intervene, the merger is voluntary, and this process is organic. I think small municipalities could be merged. Municipalities have a municipal council, which elects the aldermen; the mayor is appointed by the King, which we have inherited through the constitution. We have been criticised as a dictatorship even though we are a democracy. The mayor is chosen as a member of the assembly. The mayor appoints the police chief and decides on police intervention. The council has legislative power. The city manager is the highest civil servant; he has the power to hire and to dismiss people, and he protects civil servants from politics.

Local government has competences similar to those in Kosovo; in the field of education it only maintains the infrastructure. Funding is as in Kosovo, with grants based on population but also on square kilometres, and each municipality has its own-source revenues. 25% of the national budget is spent on municipalities, unlike Kosovo, where it is only 12%. Citizen participation in discussion is very low. Building permits are published so that people can object to them. Inter-municipal cooperation is very extensive. I hope that decentralisation will continue to develop in Kosovo too.

Kai Hofman, GIZ – Head of the Local Governance Programme: Germany has always been divided; you do not have a capital city as you have Prishtina. In 1918 we got rid of the King and ended up with Hitler; there were 37 parties and everything was politicised. We failed at democracy, but now we are stable. Municipalities failed because of the problems. When Hitler’s rule ended we were like a colony, with the Allies in charge; this is part of history. After the Marshall Plan we developed. In the last 15 years the failure of citizen participation has become apparent. In Germany we have 5 municipalities independent of the federation, and we have towns with their own local currency; in Germany we have economic differences between North and South. Many municipalities in the North have gone bankrupt as a result of building many roads and being unable to maintain them. Cities take care of infrastructure and not other expenditure. When you carry out projects, think about their maintenance too.

Besnik Tahiri: We make the mistake of asking for competences when we do not have the capacity. Citizen participation in discussion makes sense only when it produces results. I think the fault lies with the municipalities, which do not make efforts to engage citizens. Citizens’ non-participation is the result of the perception of leaders as corrupt politicians.

Germany fought France; it was seen to be a mistake, and they turned to cooperation. We must educate our children in the spirit of this cooperation.

Gunter Fehlinger, GIZ – Head of the Cadastre team: He stressed support for inter-municipal cooperation. Vienna has many problems, like you. Austria has similarities with you, but there are many differences. Austria is in the EU, and EU membership contributes to municipal infrastructure. Austria is a Federal republic with 9 regions, and it works very well. On paper Kosovo is highly decentralised, but in reality it is very centralist. Prishtina is a very large city; this does not exist in Austria, and a single region should not be created. Kosovars, Serbs and others are successful in Switzerland and Austria because of decentralisation; in Kosovo we have centralisation, and this does not help Democracy.