Political will is essential in promoting decentralization reform

The political will and swift actions taken led to the successful implementation of the decentralization reform in Poland, Polish expert Adam Sauer said in the two-day training seminar “Decentralization and development of local autonomy: successful European models for Moldova,” Info-Prim Neo reports. Adam Sauer said that before 1998, when decentralization started, the Polish reformers had only six months at the disposal and had to identify solutions for a direct jump to finish. “Surely, they had spoken earlier about the provision of the freedom of civic initiative and democratic behaviors, the shift of powers and responsibilities to the local administrations and improvement of the public services provided for the people at the place of residence. Society was ready for such a reform though I cannot say that there was a proper strategy. It was important that there was political will and the reformer knew what to do then,” he said. Adam Sauer underlined the stages of the decentralization reform in Poland, speaking about the specific elements of the local public administration in this country, the division of the public power and its tasks, cooperation in promoting decentralization with civil society, external control, and monitoring of the local authorities, interaction between the local and regional political authorities. Latvian expert Maris Pukis related the stages of the decentralization reform in Latvia. Latvia’s experience shows that when a territorial division is created, it must facilitate the economic development and improve the public services provided for the population. The seminar was attended by 40 public servants of the central public administration, representatives of the central public authorities and local nongovernmental organizations. It was organized within a project by Business Consulting Institute in partnership with Latvia’s Corporate&Public Management Consulting Group and the Polish foundation PAUCI, with financial support from the East East: Partnership Beyond Borders Program of Soros Foundation Moldova, Soros Foundation Latvia and Polish foundation Stefan Batory.