• Decentralisation

Decentralisation

This paper discusses the structure of articles that regulate territorial decentralisation in the Serbian Constitution enacted in 2006, and in three acts adopted in 2007: the Law on Territorial Organization; the Law on Local Government and the Law on Local Elections.

The paper suggests that there is a need to analyse more deeply and comprehensively the meaning, purpose and core values of local decentralisation. A functional analysis of the system of territorial decentralisation finds that:

• the Constitution completely changed the model of government in decentralised units – it introduced a "parliamentary system of government", based on the unity (not division) of powers in favour of an assembly, which was present in the time of socialist Yugoslavia (1946-1992); in this system all government bodies are elected and dismissed by the Assembly
• creating new autonomous regions, or provinces can be achieved by the process foreseen for Constitutional changes, but only after obtaining the consent of citizens in a referendum - it is not clear whether consent is required of all citizens of the Republic of Serbia, or only those whose residence is in the area; it is also not clear which procedure for changing the Constitution should be applied to the procedure of establishment, merger or abolition of autonomous regions and under what conditions a referendum can be called; this has all left plenty of room for discretionary powers of legislature
• local governments in the Republic of Serbia will be monotypic and simple (single-layered), with the municipality as the basic unit of territorial decentralisation
• territorial decentralisation units were given constitutional rights to property and to mortgaging that gave them more certainty over independent decision making concerning their own economic and social development – these rights are however still constituted only indirectly, on the level of constitutional principles, without appropriate legal elaboration
• a new development is that foreign citizens can have individual rights in the implementation of local self-government and for first time, public-private partnerships can be created and there is now the principle of competing for the provision of public services at the local level
• cities can create, in accordance with the Law, a communal police, and can manage and organise the performance of its activities

The paper notes that a substantial innovation in the system of territorial decentralisation is that now a Municipal Assembly elects and controls the local government executive, which is an implementation of the constitutionally announced parliamentary system of the local government.

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