The State of Local Democracy in Central Europe Edited by Gábor Soós Reports from Bulgaria, Estonia, and Slovakia The State of Local Democracy in Central Europe Reports from Bulgaria, Estonia, and Slovakia Edited by G ÁBOR SOÓS Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative Open Society Institute–Budapest Address Nádor utca 11. H–1051 Budapest, Hungary Mailing address P.O. Box 519 H–1357 Budapest, Hungary Telephone (36-1) 327-3104 Fax (36-1) 327-3105 E-mail [email protected] Web Site http://lgi.osi.hu/ First published in 2006 by Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative, Open Society Institute–Budapest © OSI/LGI, 2006 TM and Copyright © 2006 Open Society Institute All rights reserved. ISBN: 963 9419 93 1; 978 963 9419 93 3 (print) ISBN: 963 9419 94 X; 978 963 9419 94 0 (online) Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative The publication of these country reports has been funded by the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative of the Open Society Institute in Budapest. The judgments expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of LGI. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Copies of the book can be ordered by e-mail or post from LGI. Copy editor: Kim Fraser Cover design: Tom Bass Photo: Gergely Túry / HVG Printed in Budapest, Hungary, 2006 Design & Layout by Createch Ltd. Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI), as one of the programs of the Open Society Institute (OSI), is an international development and grant-giving organization dedicated to the support of good governance in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Newly Independent States (NIS). LGI seeks to fulfill its mission through the initiation of research and support of development and operational activities in the fields of decentralization, public policy formation, and the reform of public administration. With projects running in countries covering the region between the Czech Republic and Mongolia, LGI seeks to achieve its objectives through: • development of sustainable regional networks of institutions and professionals engaged in policy analysis, reform-oriented training, and advocacy; • support and dissemination of in-depth comparative and regionally applicable policy studies tackling local government issues; • support of country-specific projects and delivery of technical assistance to the implementation agencies; • assistance to Soros foundations with the development of local government, public administration, and/or public policy programs in their countries of the region; • publication of books, studies, and discussion papers dealing with the issues of decentralization, public administration, good governance, public policy, and lessons learned from the process of transition in these areas; • development of curricula and organization of training programs dealing with specific local government issues; • support of policy centers and think tanks in the region. Apart from its own projects, LGI works closely with a number of other international organizations (Council of Europe, Department for International Development, USAID, UNDP, and the World Bank) and co-funds larger regional initiatives aimed at the support of reforms on the subnational level. Local Government Information Network (LOGIN) and Fiscal Decentralization Initiative (FDI) are two main examples of this cooperation. Contents Acknowledgments ...................................................................vii List of Contributors ...........................................................................ix List of Tables and Figures .........................................................xi 1. Introduction .......................................................................1 Gábor Soós 2. Country Report—Bulgaria ...............................................25 Report on the State of Local Democracy in Bulgaria Milena Minkova ■ Milena Stefanova Rumyana Kolarova ■ Dimitar Dimitrov 3. Country Report—Estonia ..............................................163 Indicators of Local Democracy in Estonia Georg Sootla ■ Anu Toots ■ Rein Ruutsoo 4. Country Report—Slovakia .............................................351 The State of Democracy in Slovakia Ján Sopóci ■ Anna Hrabovská ■ Ján Bunčák 5. Conclusion: Comparing Local Democracy .....................473 in Central and Eastern Europe Paweł Swianiewicz Index of Terms ......................................................................513 v Acknowledgments The editor would like to thank Violetta Zentai for her moral support and en- couragement, Tom Bass for his well-organized management of the publication, and Kim Fraser for the hard work she put in on the copy-editing of the book. vii List of Contributors Ján Bunčák is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology, Comenius University and Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia. Dimitar Dimitrov is a lecturer on political participation and election studies at the University of Sofia and the New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria. Anna Hrabovska is an assistant professor at the Department of Sociology, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia. Rumyana Kolarova is a lecturer in political science at the University of Sofia and the American University in Bulgaria. Milena Minkova is a consultant on local government and public administration in Bulgaria. Rein Ruutsoo is professor of general political science at the University of Tartu. Ján Sopóci is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology, Comenius Uni- versity, Bratislava, Slovakia. Georg Sootla is a professor of public policy in the Department of Government, Tallinn University of Educational Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia. Gábor Soós is research project manager at the Tocqueville Research Center, Budapest, Hungary. Milena Stefanova is an associate professor of local government, Department of Public Administration, University of Sofia, Bulgaria. Paweł Swianiewicz is a professor in the Centre for European Regional and Local Studies, Warsaw University, Poland. Anu Toots is an associate professor in public policy, Tallinn University of Educational Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia. ix List of Tables and Figures TABLES CHAPTER 2 ■ BULGARIA Table 2.1: Key Economic Indicators .....................................................29 Table 2.2: Number of Municipalities in Bulgaria ................................. 29 Table 2.3: Type and Number of Territorial Units (1949–2003) ............31 Table 2.4: Breakdown of Municipalities by Population Size ................. 32 Table 2.5: Representativeness of the Sample by Gender ....................... 36 Table 2.6: Representativeness of the Sample by Age ............................. 37 Table 2.7: Identified Problems in the Interaction of Central and Local Government ........................................... 40 Table 2.8: Municipal Budget Deficits (1997–2001) ........................... 426 Table 2.9: Cross-differences among Municipalities ...............................42 Table 2.10: Structure of Revenues in Municipal Budgets [%] .................43 Table 2.11: Structure of Own Revenues in Municipal Budgets [%] ........44 Table 2.12: Structure of Own Revenues in Municipal Budgets (2002–2003) .......................................................................45 Table 2.13 Revenues in Local Budgets of Bulgarian Municipalities [%] ...............................................................45 Table 2.14: Local Expenditures by Type [%] ..........................................45 Table 2.15: Current Municipal Expenditures [%] .................................. 46 Table 2.16: Structure of Local Expenditures by Policy Area [%] .............47 Table 2.17: Scale of Differences across Municipalities ............................ 47 Table 2.18: Major Bulgarian Political Parties: Statutes of Local Branches ... 51 Table 2.19: Partiality of Local Administration (7-Point Scale) ................57 Table 2.20: Index of Respect for the Law [%] ........................................ 58 xi THE STATE OF LOCAL DEMOCRACY IN CENTRAL EUROPE Table 2.21: Respect for Legal Regulations by Type of Municipality (7-Point Scale) .....................................................................58 Table 2.22: Requests for Access to Public Information Submitted to the Municipal Administration (January–December, 2002) ........61 Table 2.23: Sources of Municipal E-government [%] .............................62 Table 2.24: Staff Member to Inform Journalists ..................................... 63 Table 2.25: Frequency of Contact with Journalists .................................63 Table 2.26: Public Deliberations on the Local Budget ............................64 Table 2.27: Municipal Councilors: Nature of Employment ....................66 Table 2.28: Bribery Cases among Public Officials (1997–2001) .............69 Table 2.29: Public Procurement Regulations in Municipalities ...............70 Table 2.30: Influence of Local Business on Local Government Policies (7-Point Scale) .....................................................................70 Table 2.31: Influence of Business on Local Councilors’ Opinions (7-Point Scale)