Structure of Local and Regional Government
All CEE countries are served by a central government administration
and a local independent, self-governing administration. Central government
tends also to be represented through a single regional level (except in
Hungary and Latvia where there is none), or three hierarchical levels in
Slovakia. Local administration is generally represented by a single level,
but can also be represented by two (in Lithuania, Latvia and Romania) or
three (Poland). Table 2 below shows the numbers and structure of regional
state and independent local administration in the ten EU accession countries.
| Country | Regional State Administration | Local, and Independent
Self-government, Upper Tier* |
Local, and Independent
Self-government, Lower Tier* |
| Bulgaria | 9 regions, overseeing state policy | 262 municipalities, with their own Municipal Councils and Mayor. Municipalities are constituted by Settlement and District Units. | |
| Czech Rep. | 76 District Offices, but without independent authority. Subordinate to Ministry of Interior | 6234 municipalities, independent but also supporting state administration | |
| Estonia | 15 County Depts., performing administrative role | 253 Municipalities and Cities | |
| Hungary | none | 19 counties undertaking an administrative role and supporting municipal governments. The City of Budapest ranks alongside the county in status. | More than 3000 municipal governments, many representing small villages and towns, and the 23 districts of Budapest |
| Latvia | none | Regional Level:Regional self-governments; and;Cities. | Local Level: Rural Municipalities; Towns, and; Cities. |
| Lithuania | 10 Counties, with little environment responsibility | 44 regional municipalities (on average representing 70,000 inhabitants) and 12 city municipalities (ranging from 2,600 to 580,000 inhabitants). | |
| Poland | 16 voivodship governments and governers, serving to supervise independent self-governments | 3 levels of self-government;At the regional level, the vovoidship self-government | At the local level:Communal self-government (for single settlements and surrounding regions); and Poviat government (representing clusters of settlements) |
| Romania | 41 counties, representing the state and who distribute state funds to self-government | 260 municipalities and towns, each with their own Mayor and Council. | 2688 communes, each with their own Mayor and Council. |
| Slovakia | Central, regional and local administratioon, the latter two represented by Regional and District Offices for the eight Regions and 79 Districts. | 2875 municipalities enjoying rights to implement their own laws | |
| Slovenia | Administration Units overseeing between 1-5 municipalities | 192 self-governing municipalities |
Table 2: Regional State and Independent Local Administration
All local and regional government roles in all countries tend to be defined in legislation that has been passed within the last ten years. Commonly this includes a Law on Local Self-government or other similar act, as well as a definition of local government responsibility within sector specific laws, for example, environment or transport framework laws. National constitutional law often also contains reference to responsibility.
The political changes of the last decade brought with them a definitive transfer in responsibility for environment and in some countries transport issues to the local self-governing level. However, this has not been accompanied by a clear definition and division of roles. In many cases, central government continues to undertake environment-related actions through environment or transport ministries and their own regional bodies, such as County Environment Deptartments (in Estonia), or Regional Environmental Boards or Inspectorates (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). These duties often include inspections, award of permits, environment monitoring, data collection and dissemination, while local governments are left only with clear responsibility for public utility services like wastewater treatment, drinking water supply, and waste management. An attempt has been made within this survey to clearly ascertain and distinguish environment and transport responsibility at a variety of levels and for a number of issues. These can be found within Annex 2 of each country chapter.
Among the environment and transport issues local government tend to be responsible for are: water supply and sewerage, heating supply, waste collection and care for landfill sites, and land-use planning. In the transport sector, responsibility frequently tends to remain with the transport ministry and its associated bodies, however, local government do take charge of maintenance of municipal and rural roads and streets, street signs and lighting, investments, operation and financing.
The unclear definition of roles has also been accompanied by poor financial support. Most local government administrations today rely on the following sources to fund their activities: state revenues including income tax allocation, state budget subsidies, local fees, fines, and taxes, loans, donations, and grants. Specific financing mechanisms are detailed in the respective country chapters.
In some countries, municipal governments enjoy relative independence, and are free to enact their own by-laws, although these generally can only be stricter than those at the national level. With respect to the environment, however, the opportunity to make inspections and ensure enforcement is limited because this tends to be handled by an environment board or inspectorate. Furthermore, municipal administrations rarely dedicate a department or individual with responsibility for environmental issues, in part also reflecting the low level of importance accorded to environmental issues. In many cases, these persons are employed on a part-time basis only. Potential cooperation is further hindered by a shortage of funds and limited English skills. Experience and knowledge of subjects like telematics and information society technologies (ISTs) tends to be less frequently a part of local government curriculum and every-day understanding.
In several countries, municipal governments have also chosen to establish
a representative association (notably Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia
and Slovenia), which in some cases actively serves to encourage municipal
economic and cultural development (Estonia). In some countries, e.g.
Estonia, Latvia, and to some degree Slovenia, representatives of these
organisations are also entitled to participate in central government cabinet
hearings and parliamentary discussions, and may also participate in drafting
state budget allocations. These bodies are also likely to serve as
reference points for European Union related information and project opportunities.
Assisting local governments in preparing for EU membership can be considered
a political priority. The limited funds, and lack of technical expertise
and experience, both in environment and IST combined with the advent of
responsibility at the local level, must therefore be taken into consideration
when encouraging the uptake and transfer of Information Society/Telematic
applications to CEE countries.
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
