The Seventh NALAS General Assembly Meeting took place in Prishtina, on 29th and 30th March 2012. Over 100 participants from SouthEast Europe and beyond - mayors, municipal officials, experts and guest - participated at the events and contributed in the joint call for renewing commitment to fiscal decentralization.

At the General Assembly, all NALAS former and future presidents also shared their views about the vision of NALAS network. They also called for extension of the Covenant of Mayors to South East Europe. In addition, the mayors from SEE presented their most successful municipal projects which contributed to improving decentralization in different municipal function areas in 2011.

New NALAS President is Mr Ozgen Keskin

Mr Ozgen Keskin, Mayor of Yildirim Municipality of Bursa (Turkey) was elected by the General Assembly to be the new NALAS president in the upcoming year. He will work closely at this position with the vice presidents Mr Anton Peršak, mayor of the Municipality of Trzin (Slovenia) and Mr Đuro Bukvić, mayor of the Municipality of Lukač (Croatia).

MAYORS FROM SOUTH EAST EUROPE CALL FOR RENEWING COMMITMENT TO FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION

The economic turbulence of the last five years has impacted the economies of South East Europe. In general, the period has not been a good one for local governments in the region and it has led to local governments and their leaders to call their central governments for renewing the commitment to fiscal decentralization.

This call was presented at the VII General Assembly Meeting of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe (NALAS) organized on 30 March 2012, in Pristina. The co-host of the event was the Mayor of Pristina and the Vice President of the Association of Kosovo Municipalities Mr Isa Mustafa. The Association of Kosovo Municipalities was a co-organiser of this General Assembly of NALAS.

The Declaration on Renewing Commitment to Fiscal Decentralization in South East Europe which was adopted by the General Assembly calls the central governments “to systematically review the operation and functioning of intergovernmental grant and transfer mechanisms and to focus particular attention on improving equalization mechanisms which are weak in most of the region”.

NALAS Brochure

Meeting Agenda

Press Release

Participants

Around 100 mayors, executive directors, experts and guests from all over the world participated at the workshops and plenary session of the NALAS General Assembly.

List of Participants

Photo Gallery