EU PROGRES

Twenty-five representatives of ministries, state institutions, public companies, cities and municipalities attended the fourth and last workshop entitled “Vertical Dimension of Good Governance: the Relationship between Local Self-Government Units and State Administration Authorities” held in Aranđelovac on 5-7 June 2013. This working event was organised by the European Partnership with Municipalities Programme EU PROGRES, with the financial support of the European Union and Swiss Government.

In their conclusions, the participants in the third workshop held in March 2013 recognised the need to hold a working event that would primarily target the representatives of the relevant ministries, state institutions, the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities and that would also be attended by the representatives of individual cities, municipalities and public companies.  The goal of the workshop was to verify the relevance of the results and the statements voiced at the previous gatherings by discussing them with the representatives of 12 ministries, state institutions and public companies, as well as four local self-governments, and provide the participants with the opportunity to propose concrete solutions on how to overcome the identified obstacles.

“Exchanging experiences with the representatives of local governments and state institutions was extremely useful. This way of work provides everyone with the chance to freely speak their mind and share their experiences and suggest ways to address problems more rapidly and efficiently. I regret that many representatives of state administration bodies and public companies do not realise how important it is to establish personal contact with the cities and municipalities, as well as with their colleagues in other institutions,” said Nenad Gavrilović, the Head of the Technical Sector of the Public Water Management Company “Srbijavode”.

In their group and plenary discussions, the workshop participants presented their conclusions corroborating the need to establish closer cooperation and communication among state administration authorities and local self-governments units and the importance of encouraging regional cooperation. They also highlighted the need for investments in regional projects, for eliminating the inconsistencies between strategic documents, laws and by-laws, which have been precluding their adequate enforcement, and for establishing a clear and transparent planning model.

“EU PROGRES succeeded in rallying the participants operating at all state administration and local government levels through this form of work, enabling them to themselves review the problems and ask questions. We heard recommendations from professionals directly enforcing public policies, who are best placed to describe the situation in the field. This communication process should be continued and improved and the number of participants expanded, to draw attention to the need to establish good governance in cities and municipalities,” said Edita Đuranović, the Head of the Planning, Monitoring and Oversight Sector of the General Secretariat of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

By the end of 2013, EU PROGRES will design a document providing an overview of all the observations and constructive proposals heard at the workshops and present it to the institutions that can help the local self-governments improve their performance, such as the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, the competent ministries and the representatives of the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia.