Public Administration Reform at the Local and Regional Level in the Eastern Partnership Countries: Developments Since 2012 in the Field of Decentralisation

This study report focuses of the following aspects of Public Administration Reform in the EaP Countires:

1. financial decentralisation (in particular, development of inter-budgetary relations, reducing vertical and horizontal imbalances, strengthening LSG budgetautonomy, improvement of the budget management etc.). Progress made in the implementation of the recommendations on fiscal decentralisation formulated in 2012 by the Sub-group for Local Government and Public Administration Reform of EaP Civil Society Forum has been used as one of the assessment criteria;
2. improvement of legal and institutional framework for local democracy (including optimisation of the administrative and territorial structure, clear division of the competences between different levels of public power etc.), development of the system of decentralised governance consistent with the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government;
3. development of the capacities of local authorities in human resources in order to fulfil more effectively their functions/powers and to improve the quality of the services to be delivered to the citizens.

The report:

• takes stock of the developments in EaP region in the field of PAR at local and regional levels after 2012;
• identifies dimensions which can be analysed and compared in a cross-country perspective;
• presents the findings of the analysis in the context of the EU best practices;
• formulates recommendations for the further work of the EaP Platform 1 “Democracy, Good Governance and Stability” and its Public Administration Reform Panel, the Sub-group on Local Government and Public Administration Reform of the EaP Civil Society Forum, European institutions as well as the relevant authorities of the EaP Countries.