NALAS elects new Executive Bureau

Vesna Travljanin	Zorica Vukelic	Sazan Ibrahimi

On 29 January 2010, the NALAS Committee of Liaison Officers elected a new Executive Bureau. The Executive Bureau for 2010 consists of Ms Zorica Vukelic from the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities in Serbia, Mr Sazan Ibrahimi from the Association of Kosovo Municipalities and Ms Vesna Travljanin from the Association of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina as treasurer. The Executive Bureau consists of two liaison officers, a NALAS Treasurer, the NALAS President and the NALAS Executive Director.      

Fiscal Decentralization, Options for Donor Harmonisation

Since the beginning of the 1990s, most developing countries have embarked in a process of subsequent decentralization, combining political, administrative and fiscal aspects. In this context, the Secretariat of the Development Partners Working Group on Local Governance and Decentralization (DPWG-LGD) has commissioned a desk study in the area of Fiscal Decentralization with a focus on local taxation, in order to produce recommendations on two levels: (i) Simplification and optimisation of fiscal systems and (ii) harmonisation of development partners’ interventions. The desk study has been conducted by an individual consultant from Germany and  used sources of information provided by the working group members as well as other sources from her professional experience. Reference is made to positive as well as negative experience in a range of countries, including states at different stages of fiscal decentralization. With regard to revenue generation at sub-national levels, the focus is on real property tax and market fees and taxes. Selected examples regarding innovative modalities for performance-based grants, sub-national borrowing and public-private partnerships are also analysed.

Publication (PDF)

Legislation and analysis of the implementation of spatial and urban planning

One of the most important and biggest competencies that have been transferred from the central to the local level is spatial and urban planning. Planning is a responsibility shared by central and local authorities. Spatial and urban planning is a continuous process that needs to be mutually coordinated in a complementary way. Likewise, it needs to be coordinated with the large number of priorities coming from different areas of competency, in particular economic and social development and environmental protection. This publication is an effort to analyse the legislation and implementation of the spatial and urban planning in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Republic of Srpska and Turkey.

Publication website

Disaster for the municipalities

Pforzheim is a town of nearly 119 000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Because of that it gained the nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City. It has an area of 98 km² and is situated between the cities of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe. Unfortunately, lately the city is becoming famous for another thing. On 5 January 2010, "Die Welt" published a story of a long struggle of the town Mayoress and her ciry treasurer that may lead to a legendary loss of 77.5 million euro in the years 2014-2017. The translated vesrion of the story is available at the link below.

Disaster for the municipalities

Bulgarian Mayor Vladimir Moskov is the new NALAS President

The Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe - NALAS elected its new presidency at its General Assembly meeting held in Istanbul on 10 and 11 December 2009: Mr Vladimir Moskov, Mayor of Goce Delcev (Bulgaria) is the newly elected NALAS President, Mr Refik Rrugeja, Mayor of Kavaja (Albania), Mr Özgen Keskin, Mayor of Yildirim, (Turkey), and Mr Anton Peršak, Mayor of Trzin (Slovenia) are the new Vice Presidents. Mr. Tarzan Milosevic was granted an Honorary President title in recognition to his service of NALAS President in the past 4 years.

Read the whole press release

Talent for Governance

In 2010 Talent for Governance will provide a limited amount of scholarships to young, talented and motivated civil servants, working for local governments in developing countries and Eastern European (non-EU) countries. The courses offer an opportunity to see, do and experience governance from a typically local point of view. Contributions and cases come from local governance experts from all parts of the world. By following these courses, the civil servants will develop the knowledge and skills they need to improve living conditions in their local societies. Teh application period is from 9 December 2009 to 1 March 2010.

Talent for Governance Scholarships webpage

Resolution of the Presidium of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities of 1 December 2009

The impacts of the financial and economic crisis are increasingly being felt in the cities and towns. Tax revenues heavily drop, while social expenditure is exploding. Municipalities are to look after children and ensure security, rehabilitate schools and eliminate waste water, pay social welfare benefit and strengthen local crafts - in short, provide an attractive environment. The gap between the collapsing revenues and skyrocketing costs of the municipalities will become wider in the next few years. The financial crisis is already determined policy decisions. Given this precarious situation, the German cities and municipalities are calling for a recue system and sustainable municipal consolidation package. Click below to read the whole document.  

English translation of the document