Decentralisation will result in autonomous budgets for Local Public Administration

The transfer of competences from the central public administration to the local one shall lead to the compulsory providing of financial resources necessary in order to execute these competences. This provision is part of the Law on administrative decentralisation, passed by the Parliament on Thursday, December 28, in its final reading. Delegation of competences shall be operated via laws approved by the Parliament, at the proposal of the Government. At the same time, the public services regulated by the Constitution cannot be transferred from the state’s responsibilities into that of the local public administration. These competences are to be run and guaranteed directly and exclusively by the state. The Law on administrative decentralisation also says that the villages or towns where administrative expenses exceed 30 % from the total sum of their income will not have local public administration. The mentioned law also stipulates that local public authorities are financially autonomous, the budgetary process at the local level being separated from the national one. At the same time, according to the respective law, the authorities of the local public administration will receive consultations concerning the process of working out, adopting and amending laws or other normative acts referring to its organisation and functioning. Local public authorities benefit from financial autonomy, adopt own budget, which is independent and separated from the state budget. The implementation of the administrative decentralisation is to be under the competence of the Ministry of Local Public Administration. The law will enter in force on January 1, 2007.