Partner Institution: NALAS – Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe
The System of Local Government in Albania
Elton Stafa, NALAS – Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe
Types of Local Governments
With the 2014 Territorial and Administrative Reform (TAR)[1], in Albania there are two types of local self-governments, i.e. the basic level of local self-government consisting in 61 municipalities (Bashkia), and the second tier of local self-government made up of 12 regions (Qarku).
Municipalities comprise also administrative units, which can be towns and/or villages. In most cases, the administrative units are the former rural communes that were amalgamated with the TAR with their closest and cultural and historical urban centers. The Municipality of Tirana, for example, is subdivided in 24 administrative units, i.e. 11 subdivisions of the former (urban) municipality and 13 (rural) communes that were amalgamated to Tirana with the TAR. The administration of these units is part of the municipal administration and is directed by an administrator who is appointed and dismissed by the mayor. Towns may be divided into smaller units called quarters (lagje). As a rule, a quarter can be established in territories with over 20,000 residents. A town’s division into quarters and its territory shall be approved upon a decision of the municipal council.
The regions, the second-tier local self-governments in Albania, were and continue to be entrusted with only few general responsibilities for ‘coordination and harmonization’ of regional policies with national policies and they may also perform any function that is mandated to them by one or more municipalities within the region or the central government. In practice, the regions do not perform any significant responsibility, other than some administrative tasks delegated by the national government.
Legal Status of Local Governments
The right of local governments to self-government is enshrined in Article 13 of the Constitution of Albania and the Law on Local Self-Government. The constitution prescribes that local government in Albania is based on the principle of decentralization of powers and is exercised according to the principle of local autonomy. The constitutional standing of the second-tier of local self-government, the regional council (Këshilli i Qarkut), is the same as for municipalities, regardless of the fact that they have only a few ‘coordination’ own responsibilities. Only the municipal council (Këshilli Bashkiak) is directly elected. The regional council is composed of members from the elected bodies of the municipalities that make up the region, i.e. mayors and other members that are elected from among municipal councilors of the municipalities that compose the region.
The Law on Local Self-Government prescribes the right and the ability of local governments in Albania to regulate and manage public affairs under their own responsibility, within the limits of the law. The exercise of the right of self-government is guaranteed by additional rights of local governments as juridical persons, the right to own and dispose of property, to raise revenues and make expenditures, to perform economic activity, to cooperate with other local governments, etc. The Law on Local Self-Government prescribes also the basic principles of local government finances, according to which, local governments ‘shall be entitled, within national financial policies, to adequate financial resources, commensurate with the responsibilities provided for by the Law’ (Article 34).[2]
(A)Symmetry of the Local Government System
All municipalities are entrusted with general competences to carry out all responsibilities relevant to the local community (as prescribed by law), and any other responsibility that is not specifically assigned (by law) to another level of government. Local governments are entrusted with own and delegated functions and responsibilities. Local self-governments have own responsibilities in the core public services and public infrastructure, in the field of education, social protection, culture, recreation and sports, environmental protection, agriculture, rural development, forests and pastures and protection of nature and biodiversity, local economic development and public order and safety including fire protection. Although these are all ‘own’ local matters, the degree of political and administrative and fiscal powers decentralized to local governments varies significantly from function to function and in any case, in performing these functions, local governments should also respect regional and national policies and standards for service delivery.
The spirit of the new Law on Local Self-Government entails symmetric decentralization of exclusive functions to all new 61 municipalities, regardless of size, capacity or any other condition that may affect service delivery for particular functions. However, the law introduces also the possibility of asymmetrical decentralization to specific municipalities. However, the transfer of specific responsibilities to specific local governments shall be regulated through a separate law.[3] In practice there are a number of cases of asymmetries through transfers of competences to specific local governments for specific purposes, either through a specific law, government decree or a more simple Memorandum of Cooperation between different central and local governments. Examples include the transfer of responsibilities for operating and maintaining pre-university students’ dormitories, the operation of certain social service centers that were previously operated by a specific line ministry and public order, as the municipal police in Tirana may impose fines for the irregular parking within the territory of the municipality, which is a national police competence.
Political and Social Context in Albania
Albania has a relatively young history of democratic local self-government. While an independent country since 1912, for about half a century (1944-1990), Albania suffered a severe totalitarian regime, during which local government meant simply ‘local structures of the (central) government’. Albania began the journey of political and administrative decentralization in 1992 with the first local democratic elections. As an in many other ex-communist countries, the early reform processes simply focused on laying down the basic concepts and legal framework for decentralization and local self-government to counter a half century legacy of repressive and non-democratic institutions.[4] In the early 2000s Albania adopted decentralization reforms that saw the consolidation of local responsibilities and the introduction of basic instruments for the financing of local responsibilities. The reforms enacted between 2014 and 2017, have been even more impactful. In 2014, the Government of Albania (GoA) consolidated 373 urban and rural local governments into 61 municipalities. In 2015, Parliament passed a new Law on Local Self-Government (LSGL)[5] and a new Law on Local Self-Government Finance (LGFL).[6] These laws were considered as critical components of a larger strategic plan to expand the role of democratically-elected local governments in Albania by creating larger municipalities and giving them more responsibilities and resources.[7]
Following the collapse of the communist regime, the political landscape is dominated by two major parties, the Democratic Party (DP) and the Social Party (SP). The third largest political party is the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI). The 2013 general elections were won by a coalition between the SP and the SMI that governed together until the general elections of 2017, since when the SP is governing alone. Local politics is controlled by these three major parties. There have been only a few cases of an independent candidate running a local government as a mayor. The latest case when independent mayors run and took office is the local elections of 2007. Between 2007 and 2011 there have been 12 independent mayors out of 373.After 2011, there have been no cases of independent mayors taking office in Albania.
Regarding the social context of local government, it is important to note the massive number of Albanians that have left the country (but that still have Albanian citizenship) since the early 1990s. Only between 2014 and 2018, about 200,000 Albanians have emigrated while about 100,000 have immigrated.[8] As for internal population movements, the 2011 census ascertained that the population living in urban areas for the first time exceeded the population living in rural areas. The resident population in urban areas was 53.5 per cent, while 46.5 per cent lived in rural areas.
References to Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications
Legal Documents:
Law no 115/2014 on the Administrative-Territorial Division of Local Government Units in the Republic of Albania
Law no 139/2015 on Local Self-Government
Government of Albania, ‘National Crosscutting Strategy for Decentralization and Local Government’ (adopted by Decision of the Council of Ministers no 691 of 29 July 2015)
Law no 68/2017 on Local Self-Government Finance
Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications:
Stafa E and Xhumari M, ‘Albania: Aligning Territorial and Fiscal Decentralisation’ in William Bartlett, Sanja Kmezić and Katarina Đulić (eds), Fiscal Decentralisation, Local Government and Policy Reversals in Southeastern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan 2018)
[1] Law no 115/2014 on the Administrative-Territorial Division of Local Government Units in the Republic of Albania.
[2] Law no 139/2015 on Local Self-Government, Art 34.
[3] Law no 139/2015, dated 17 December 2015, on Local Self-Government, Official Gazette No 249, p16963, Art 21.
[4] Stafa Elton and Xhumari Merita, ‘Albania: Aligning Territorial and Fiscal Decentralisation’ in William Bartlett, Sanja Kmezić and Katarina Đulić (eds), Fiscal Decentralisation, Local Government and Policy Reversals in Southeastern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan 2018).
[5] Law no 139/2015 on Local Self-Government (LSGL).
[6] Law no 68/2017 on Local Self-Government Finance (LSGFL).
[7] Government of Albania, ‘National Crosscutting Strategy for Decentralization and Local Government’ (adopted by Decision of the Council of Ministers no 691 of 29 July 2015).
[8] Instat, ‘Migration and Migrant Integration’ (Instat Institute of Statistics) <http://www.instat.gov.al/al/temat/treguesit-demografik%C3%AB-dhe-social%C3%AB/migracioni-dhe-integrimi-i-migrant%C3%ABve/#tab2>.
Local Responsibilities and Public Services in Albania: An Introduction
Elton Stafa, NALAS – Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe
Until 2015, urban and rural local self-governments in Albania were entrusted with symmetrical own, shared and delegated functions and responsibilities. Own functions were those functions over which local government units exercised full administrative, service, investment and regulatory authority. Public services related to infrastructure and utilities formed the core of exclusive functions of local governments in Albania. Shared functions included some generic maintenance responsibilities in the areas of pre-university education, primary health care and social protection. Delegated functions basically included all those central government functions the implementation of which was delegated to the local governments, through a specific law or bylaw. Unfortunately, the symmetrical decentralization of responsibilities to both urban and rural local governments, in a context of extreme territorial fragmentation and insufficient human, material and financial resources have led to significant disparities in terms of access to and quality of services.[1]
In late 2015, the Parliament of Albania adopted a new Law on Local Self-Government. This new law aims at harmonizing Albania’s local government legal framework with the TAR and consolidating and expanding the authority of the 61 newly created local governments to perform new services in accordance with the provisions of the new National Cross Cutting Strategy for Decentralization and Local Government.[2]
Local governments in Albania perform own and delegated functions and competences, which are decentralized in a symmetrical manner.[3] Local Self-Governments have full authority to regulate and administer the exercise of their own functions in an autonomous manner. The ability to regulate refers to the right to establish general and normative rules of conduct and binding standards in compliance with the law. The ability to administer refers to the right to plan, finance and organize the exercise of a function. Although they enjoy autonomy, when performing their tasks, local governments should also respect regional and national policies. In fact, in cases of national interests or to ensure qualitative services, the national government may impose specific norms and standards, also on own local functions. In the latter cases, the law[4] requires that the national government provides the necessary financial support.
Local self-governments have own responsibilities in the core public services and public infrastructure; education; social protection; culture, recreation and sports; environmental protection; agriculture, rural development, forests and pastures, nature and biodiversity; local economic development; and public order and safety. Obviously, the degree of political and administrative powers decentralized to local governments vary from function to function.
From the functional responsibility perspective, the new Law on Local Self-Government brought a number of novelties: (i) the elimination of shared functions – which meant an immediate transformation of the previous shared functions into exclusive functions. The rationale for this choice was to reduce confusion and vagueness over local government responsibilities. Indeed, to some degree, the concrete ‘shares’ of responsibilities of the national and local governments on ‘shared functions’ were never fully clarified. This made local governments exclusively responsible for maintaining, operating and building new schools and health and social service centers – the responsibility over which was previously shared with local governments. Unfortunately, this change was not accompanied by any increase in intergovernmental transfers. Local governments responsibilities changed overnight without a significant increase in their revenue sources[5]; (ii) the decentralization of a number of new and costly functions to local governments, including paying teachers in kindergartens and preschools and support staff in all levels of pre-university education; the regulation and administration of fire protection; irrigation and drainage; agricultural counselling; the maintenance of rural roads (previously performed by the regions); the establishment, regulation and administration of social services, including day care centers for disadvantaged groups; social housing; and the establishment of a social fund; etc. Unlike the transfer of the ‘shared’ functions, the transfer of these new responsibilities in 2016 was accompanied by the introduction of a specific earmarked grant, broken down per function and municipality by the respective line ministry.
References to Scientific and Non-Scientific Sources
Legal Documents:
Law no 8652/2000 on the Organization and Functioning of Local Governments
Law no 115/2014 on the Administrative-Territorial Division of Local Government Units in the Republic of Albania
Law no 139/2015 on Local Self-Government
Government of Albania, ‘National Crosscutting Strategy for Decentralization and Local Governance 2015-2020’ (adopted by Decision of the Council of Ministers no 691 of 29 July 2015)
Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications:
Levitas T and Stafa E, ‘Financing the New Own Functions of Local Governments in Albania’ (USAID 2018) <https://www.plgp.al/financing-the-new-own-functions-of-local-governments-in-albania/>
[1] Law no 8652/2000 on the Organisation and Functioning of Local Governments.
[2] Government of Albania, ‘National Crosscutting Strategy for Decentralization and Local Governance 2015-2020’ (adopted by Decision of the Council of Ministers no 691 of 29 July 2015).
[3] Law no 139/2015 on Local Self-Government, Art 21.
[4] ibid, Art 22.
[5] Tony Levitas and Elton Stafa, ‘Financing the New Own Functions of Local Governments in Albania’ (USAID 2018) <https://www.plgp.al/financing-the-new-own-functions-of-local-governments-in-albania/>.
Local Financial Arrangements in Albania: An Introduction
Elton Stafa, NALAS – Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe
The framework for local government financial arrangements in Albania is provided by the Constitution, the Law on Local Self-Government, the Law on Local Self-Government Finance and the Law on the Local Tax System. This legal framework guarantees local governments’ rights to raise sufficient revenues on its own through local taxes and fees, the management of their assets; borrowing etc.; the right to benefit from sufficient stable, predictable and equitable freely disposable intergovernmental transfers; the right to revenues from shared taxes; the right to earmarked/competitive based grants that support the development of local infrastructure; the right to conditional/earmarked grants to perform central government functions delegated at the local level; the right to be compensated in case the national government makes any changes to local government taxing powers or their entitlement to freely disposable transfers.
Local government revenue constituted 14 per cent of total public revenue and 4 per cent in GDP terms in 2018.[1] Compared to previous years, local government revenues have increased significantly, as a result of the increased responsibilities (transferred with the new Law on Local Self-Government adopted in 2015), increased funding from the general-purpose unconditional grant and the increase in own revenues.
The intergovernmental finance system in Albania is composed of: own revenues raised by local governments themselves which includes fees and charges amounting in 2019 to 43 per cent of total own revenues; freely disposable transfers received from the state budget in the form of general-purpose unconditional grants and shared taxes; and conditional transfers from specific bodies of the central government such as the specific sectoral block grants and investment grants.
On average, local governments raised on their own 39 per cent of total local government revenues in 2018; the second largest single revenue source is the general purpose unconditional grant, which provided for 27 per cent of total local government revenues in 2018; shared tax revenue provided for only 2 per cent of local government budgets; while conditional grants constitute the remaining 33 per cent of local budgets, where sectoral block grants for the new functions decentralized with new Law on Local Self-Government constitute 12 per cent of total local government revenues while conditional competitive based investment grants constitute 21 per cent of total local revenues in 2018.
In terms of financial autonomy, local governments control and manage in an autonomous manner about two thirds (64 per cent) of local government revenues. The different types of intergovernmental transfers constitute up to 61 per cent of local government revenues[2] of which half is directly managed in an autonomous manner by local governments themselves and the remaining half is directly influenced or managed by the central government bodies that provide the conditional grants.
The most important sources of own revenue are the recurrent property tax, the tax on the infrastructure impact of new construction and local fees and charges for local services; taken together these three revenue sources constitute up to two thirds of own local revenues. Albania has recently reformed the property tax, by moving closer to a market-value based tax assessment (for urban buildings only). The tax rate is set at 0.05 per cent of the assessed value for household taxpayers and 0.2 per cent of the assessed value for business taxpayers. Nevertheless, in most cases, municipalities continue to charge a lump sum payment for the property tax.
The Unconditional Grant is the main source of revenue for local government units. Even with the territorial consolidation, this grant constitutes more than 50 per cent of revenues for more than 70 per cent of the newly established municipalities.[3] A new formula for the allocation of Unconditional Grants was adopted in October 2015. The new formula ensures that the allocation of funds is based on concrete, tangible and verifiable criteria, increasing therefore the fairness and transparency, while at the same time ensuring the harmonization of the allocation of funds with the new reality imposed by the territorial and administrative reform. Officially, there is no distinction between urban and rural local governments. All municipalities have an urban center (town) and administrative units (former rural communes). But the unconditional grant is allocated to local governments based on their relative population, population density and number of pre-university pupils. The component based on population density discriminates positively the more ‘rural’ municipalities – those that have more rural territory. In simple terms, this component provides funding only for those municipalities that have a population density smaller or equal to the national average population density. In practice, half of the municipalities receive extra funding for having a lower population density and – presumably – higher than average costs in service delivery and fewer fiscal capacity.
In 2017, Albania adopted for a first time a comprehensive Law on Local Self-Government Finances (LGFL). The LGFL constitutes a monumental achievement and a major milestone in Albania’s progress toward decentralization. The law provides for a more logical and efficient framework for local taxing powers, intergovernmental transfers, public finance management, and intergovernmental dialogue and consultation.[4] With the approval of this law, local government revenues from the unconditional grant for 2019 were 42 per cent higher than in 2015, creating a huge opportunity for local governments to improve local services.
References to Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications
Legal Documents:
Government of Albania, Ministry of Finance and Economy, Annual Budget Laws (2016-2020), Annex 1 – The Allocation of the Unconditional Grant to Local Governments
Law no 68/2017 on Local Self-Government Finance
Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications:
Levitas T and Stafa E, ‘Creating an Equitable, Transparent, and Predictable Unconditional Grant Formula’, (USAID’s Planning and Local Governance Project PLGP 2015) <https://www.plgp.al/wp-content/uploads/2.-Unconditional-Grant-Policy-Paper-September-30-2015-Clean_eng-2.pdf> accessed 18 May 2019
NALAS, ‘Statistical Brief: Local Government Finance Indicators in South-East Europe’ (2019)
[1] NALAS, ‘Statistical Brief: Local Government Finance Indicators in South-East Europe’ (2019).
[2] This is similar to the other countries in the SEE region, where about 65% of local expenditures are financed through intergovernmental transfers, in the form of shared taxes and unconditional and conditional grants (NALAS, 2019).
[3] Tony Levitas and Elton Stafa, ‘Creating an Equitable, Transparent, and Predictable Unconditional Grant Formula’, (USAID’s Planning and Local Governance Project PLGP 2015) <https://www.plgp.al/wp-content/uploads/2.-Unconditional-Grant-Policy-Paper-September-30-2015-Clean_eng-2.pdf> accessed 18 May 2019.
[4] Tony Levitas and Elton Stafa, ‘Key Recommendations for the Development and Discussion of the Law on Local Government Finances’ (USAID’s Planning and Local Governance Project PLGP 2016) < https://www.plgp.al/wp-content/uploads/3.-LGFL_Draft-Policy_Brief_Key_Recommendations_print-FINAL_eng.pdf > accessed 18 May 2019.
The Structure of Local Government in Albania: An Introduction
Elton Stafa, NALAS – Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe
Since assuming power in 2013, the new socialist-led Government of Albania initiated a comprehensive decentralization reform process composed of three key pillars: (i) territorial and administrative reform aiming at the re-organization of the first-tier local government units in Albania to create larger and stronger local governments ; (ii) political decentralization reform by consolidating and expanding local governments rights and responsibilities through a new Law on Local Self-Government; and (iii) fiscal decentralization reform through the adoption for the first time of a comprehensive Law on Local Self-Government Finance.
In 2014, the Government of Albania, adopted a Territorial and Administrative Reform (TAR), consolidating the very fragmented 308 rural communes and 63 urban municipalities into just 61 larger municipalities.[1] In practical terms, communes were amalgamated to the ‘closest’ or ‘historical’ urban center and are now called ‘administrative units’. The second tier of local governments was not affected by the territorial and administrative reform.
This TAR constitutes a major milestone in the country’s effort to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public administration and the quality of public services. The reduction in the number of local government units should increase the efficiency of local government by lowering administrative costs. The concentration of human and financial resources in a smaller number of larger local government units should increase the effectiveness of public services by enhancing the ability of local governments to respond to the preferences of their electorates. And the transfer of additional responsibilities for delivering day-to-day public services to larger local government units should allow the national government to focus more of its energies on the strategic, legislative, and policy-making functions of the state—including the goal of balanced territorial development.[2]
As a result of the TAR, the average size of the first-tier local self-government units in terms of population increased by 5.4 times, from 8,700 inhabitants to over 47,000 inhabitants. However, despite the territorial consolidation, there is still a large variation in the size of local self-governments among the new municipalities in terms of population, from 3 200 inhabitants for the smallest and youngest Municipality of Pustec to the capital of Tirana, which had over 760,000 inhabitants in 2017, according to the civil register data. The Municipality of Tirana, being the largest one in terms of population, urbanization and economic development, is subdivided into 24 administrative units, eleven subdivisions of the former municipality and 13 communes that merged after the reform. In terms of territory, after the TAR, on average, the size of the first-tier local self-government units increased by 69 times, with a maximum of 479 times in the case of the Municipality of Skrapar. The territory of the new Municipality of Tirana grew by 28 times. The government declared that the main rationale behind the amalgamation was the territorial continuation and historical, cultural, traditional and economic elements. However, the opposition has raised concerns that the new administrative division was based much more on political rather than objective variables. As a result, the opposition did not participate in the design of the new administrative division of Albania, and the reform was approved with the votes of the ruling coalition only. From this perspective, the territorial division may be revised with the change of government in Albania, and in fact in January 2020, as part of the electoral reform, the opposition called for the revision of the territorial and administrative division. While the Constitution allows for a change of the territorial and administrative division through a law that takes into account history, culture and tradition, recent reforms have been in practice top-down processes driven by the central government.
The Constitution grants to local governments the right to amalgamate and create joint institutions and establish forms of inter-municipal cooperation. Between 2000 and 2014, however, there has been only one case of voluntary amalgamation of two communes in the north of Albania. This indicates perhaps a lack of incentives from national and local policymakers to promote and engage in voluntary amalgamations, as it would result in either loss of power or risk of loss of power with implications on local and national politics. Similarly, a severe inheritance from the past in terms of close ‘government’ presence at territorial level and lack of trust in institutions may have prevented citizens to engage in an active manner to support amalgamations. By the same token there have been only few isolated cases of inter-municipal cooperation, although allowed by the legal framework and desirable in terms of economic efficiency, in particular in the case of smaller municipalities. Conversely, with the new territorial and administrative division, there have also been cases where newly established municipalities preferred to create their own municipal structures to perform certain functions instead of continuing with the joint management of previously existing utilities that was serving multiple jurisdictions.
References to Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications
Legal Documents:
Law no 115/2014 on the Administrative-Territorial Division of Local Government Units in the Republic of Albania
Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications:
Levitas T and Stafa E, ‘Creating an Equitable, Transparent, and Predictable Unconditional Grant Formula’ (USAID’s Planning and Local Governance Project PLGP 2015) <https://www.plgp.al/wp-content/uploads/2.-Unconditional-Grant-Policy-Paper-September-30-2015-Clean_eng-2.pdf>
[1] Law no 115/2014 on the Administrative-Territorial Division of Local Government Units in the Republic of Albania.
[2] Tony Levitas and Elton Stafa, ‘Creating an Equitable, Transparent, and Predictable Unconditional Grant Formula’ (USAID’s Planning and Local Governance Project PLGP 2015) <https://www.plgp.al/wp-content/uploads/2.-Unconditional-Grant-Policy-Paper-September-30-2015-Clean_eng-2.pdf> accessed 18 May 2019.
Intergovernmental Relations of Local Governments in Albania: An Introduction
Elton Stafa, NALAS – Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe
Intergovernmental relations refer to all the processes, mechanisms and institutions in place in a given country through which the various levels of government interact and relate with one another to exercise government power and achieve common or concurrent policy purposes.[1] The nature and intensity of intergovernmental relations may differ substantially from country to country depending on the form of the political and legal system, levels of government, territorial and administrative division, socio-economic development, history and tradition, political climate, legal framework etc. Intergovernmental relations in Albania are characterized by both formal as well as informal structures, institutions and processes that build on mechanisms of both supervision and cooperation. As a general rule, Albania’s Constitution provides the basic architecture of intergovernmental relations between the various levels of government, while more detailed relations are regulated by law and/or informal practices of exchange and cooperation. A key role in intergovernmental relations, is dedicated to the Associations of Local Authorities in Albania and more recently to the Agency for the Support of Local Self-Government and the Consultative Council between the Central and Local Governments. Similarly, also line ministries and local governments directly play a key role in the regulation and implementation of specific sectoral policies that cross-cut with local government responsibilities.
Within such formal and informal architecture, the different political and economic powers of urban and rural local self-governments may result in a different impact on intergovernmental relations. In fact, larger and more urban local governments are more actively represented in intergovernmental relations. In addition, the proximity of the institutions of Capital City of Tirana with the institutions of the central government, plays a key role in the fact that Tirana is represented in most of the intergovernmental working groups for sectoral policy reforms, as opposed to smaller and more rural local governments. To some extent this is explained also by the different capacities. This is particularly true in the design and revision of intergovernmental fiscal and financial systems that should take into consideration the needs of both urban and rural subnational governments. Furthermore, the political landscape and personalities involved in the key formal institutions definitively play a role in the effectiveness of both formal and informal channels of interaction, even when there is a long-standing and well-established tradition of interaction.
With decentralization processes going on for decades in Albania, local self-governments have become responsible for many public responsibilities which were previously considered an exclusive competence of national governments. This has necessitated a revision of intergovernmental relations and accountabilities. Socio-demographic changes and the movement of citizens from rural to urban areas impose severe pressures on the relationships, responsibilities and capacities of urban and rural local self-government to deliver public services, necessitating a recurrent revision of intergovernmental fiscal relations.
Local Government Associations (LGAs) in Albania have a key role in the intergovernmental relations as they could contribute to consensus building and cooperation, while representing the interests of both urban and rural areas of the newly consolidated local governments. However, the role and impact of LGAs, in addition to tradition and legal statuses is greatly affected by their financial stability; internal democracy in decision-making to effectively represent the potential urban-rural divide and interplay; political climate and polarization; territorial and administrative divisions and reforms; etc.
References to Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications
Legal Documents:
Law no 139/2015 on Local Self-Government
Decision of the Council of Ministers no 910/2016 on the Organization and Functioning of the Consultative Council between the Central Government and Local Self-Governments
Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications:
Philimore J, ‘Understanding Intergovernmental Relations: Key Features and Trends’ (2013) 72 Australian Journal of Public Administration 228
[1] John Philimore, ‘Understanding Intergovernmental Relations: Key Features and Trends’ (2013) 72 Australian Journal of Public Administration 228.
People’s Participation in Local Decision-Making in Albania: An Introduction
Elton Stafa, NALAS – Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe
While an independent country since 1912, nearly half a century (1944-1990) of dictatorship and highly centralized government left a legacy of repressive and non-democratic institutions in Albania, with major implications on citizens’ trust in institutions and participation in decision-making. In recent years, however, the general framework for people’s participation in policy-making became more open to the general public, via an improved legal framework, the creation of new institutions and platforms which facilitate public participation in policy-making. In some cases, citizens’ participation in decision-making became formally obligatory.
The 1998 Constitution guarantees the right of all citizens to access to information on all national and local government activities and follow up meetings of collectively elected organs (Article 24); the right to submit requests, complaints and observations to public institutions, and the latter are obliged to respond within timelines and conditions set by law (Article 48). From this perspective, there are no constitutional provisions requiring all public authorities, including therefore local governments, to facilitate the participation of people in political, economic, social and cultural life, as a fundamental right. Nevertheless, the Constitution guarantees the right to access information which, along with the right to interact with public authorities, create the first steps to empowering citizens to participation in decision-making.
In general terms, the right to information is further elaborated by the Law on the Right to Information,[1] the rulings of which are designated to ensure public access to information. The law also aims at encouraging integrity, transparency and accountability of the public sector bodies. However, it was the 2014 Law on Notification and Public Consultation[2] that provides the framework for citizen participation in policy-making in Albania. This law regulates the process of notification and public consultation of the draft laws, national and local strategic draft documents, and policies of high interest to the public. It stipulates the procedural rules which shall be applied in order to ensure public transparency and participation in the policy-making and decision-making processes of public entities.
Specifically, citizens’ right to participate in local government decision-making is strongly embedded in the organic law regulating local governance in Albania,[3] as a form of real decentralization of power from higher levels of government to local communities. This law devotes an entire chapter to rules on transparency, consultation and civic participation. It prescribes that promoting an all-inclusive participation of the community in local governance is one of the fundamental missions of local self-government units in Albania. According to the law, local self-governments shall guarantee transparency of their activity to the public and are obliged to guarantee public participation in the process of decision-making. The municipal council meetings are open to the public and every citizen shall be allowed to attend them as stipulated in the statutes of the municipal council. This law specifically provides that before considering and approving acts, municipal or regional councils shall hold consultation sessions with the community, and in the case of municipal budgets, municipal fiscal policy and a few other major local government rights and responsibilities, such as the adoption of local development strategies, rulings on territorial management, rulings affecting the entire community etc., the consultation sessions with the community are mandatory. Furthermore, each community has the right to present citizens’ initiatives on matters within the jurisdiction of the local self-government unit to the municipal council for decision.
The Albanian Constitution foresees also local referenda as one of the main forms of local democracy and direct exercise of people’s sovereignty and as a key form of local self-government (Article 108). The initiative for a local referendum on a local government issue can be exercised by: (i) 10 per cent of the voters registered in the electoral registers of the respective local unit or 20,000 of them, whichever is smaller; (ii) a number of municipal councils, representing not less than one third of the population of a county, which have the right to request the holding of a referendum on a local government issue at the county level. However, a legal framework to allow the implementation of local referenda has been missing since the adoption of the Constitution in 1998, and in fact, there are no cases of local referenda in Albania. It is difficult to explain the reasons why Albanian policymakers have not adopted the implementing framework for local referenda over the past two decades. The strong legacy of centralistic institutions and political divisions at national and local level certainly plays an important role, along with the interplay of other social and political factors, such as trust in government and institutions, including on local referenda.
Albania enjoys a sound legal framework that would ensure local government transparency and facilitate citizens participation in local decision-making. However, there is a substantial gap between the provisions of the laws and their actual implementation. While the practice of inviting citizens to participate in consultations, discussions, presentations and roundtables to inform citizens on local government plans and strategies has been increasing, still implementation of real participation in decision making remains challenging.[4] Citizens are not fully aware of the existence of mechanisms ensuring their participation and there is a lot of skepticism about the concrete impact of their involvement in decision-making.[5] This skepticism is rooted also in the fact that in most cases, citizens are presented a completed or almost completed proposal before its final approval. This setting does not allow citizens to be involved in the early stages of decision-making, which would contribute to building trust in their government and participating in the development of their own community. Monitoring of local government activity with a view to holding them accountable is mostly driven on a project basis by NGOs. Some municipalities have adopted open government initiatives to facilitate both monitoring and accountability. However, actions by individuals or organizations on such open data portals are rather rare, except for investigative journalists.
Overall, the majority of Albanian citizens perceives the central and local government as not transparent or accountable and between 2016 and 2019, the perceived decline in transparency is six percentage points for the central government and seven percentage points for local government.[6] According to the 2019 assessment of the Institute for Democracy and Mediation, at the local level 24.6 per cent of respondents participated in a public consultation meeting, with the main reason for this low turnout being the lack of trust in such processes. The report finds out also that at least six in ten respondents believe that local public hearings are formal events with limited influence on municipal decisions and that suggestions coming from civil society and interest groups on draft laws are not taken into consideration. Another survey found out that between 2016 and 2019 there is an improvement regarding the institutional framework for participation and citizen engagement, but there is a decrease in the involvement of all stakeholders in decision-making.[7] Additionally, 70.6 per cent of respondents reported that they do not have sufficient opportunities to participate in decision-making at the central level. At the local level, respondents were slightly more optimistic about opportunities to participate. 58.6 per cent reported that they do not have sufficient opportunity, meaning that according to 41.4 per cent of the respondents there is sufficient opportunity to participate in local decision-making processes.[8] The assessment surveys show no major differences with regard to citizens’ interest or perception of opportunities to participate in decision-making at the central and local level according to urban or rural residency.[9]
In short, despite significant progress, in particular in the institutional framework and mechanisms, Albanian civil society is still struggling to increase influence on governance at both national and local level and to ensure sustainable impact. However, it must be acknowledged that there are many local governments who take a proactive approach in involving citizens in their decision-making processes, both in urban and rural areas.[10]
References to Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications
Legal Documents:
Law no 119/2014 on the Right to Information
Law no 146/2014 on Notification and Public Consultation
Law no 139/2015 on Local Self-Government
Scientific and Non-Scientific Publications
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and Partners Albania for Change and Development, ‘Handbook on Transparency and Citizen Participation in Albania’ (Council of Europe 2020)
IDM Institute for Democracy and Mediation, ‘Survey Report: Opinion Poll – Trust in Governance in Albania’ (2019)
IDRA Research, ‘Citizen Participation in Decision-Making in Albania’ (2017)
—— and Human Development Promotion Center, ‘Local Governance Mapping in Albania’ (2020)
[1] Law no 119/2014 on the Right to Information.
[2] Law no 146/2014 on Notification and Public Consultation.
[3] Law no 139/2015 on Local Self-Government.
[4] Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and Partners Albania for Change and Development, ‘Handbook on Transparency and Citizen Participation in Albania’ (Council of Europe 2020).
[5] IDRA Research, ‘Citizen Participation in Decision-Making in Albania’ (IDRA 2017).
[6] IDM – Institute for Democracy and Mediation, ‘Survey Report: Opinion Poll – Trust in Governance in Albania’ (IDM 2019).
[7] IDRA Research and Human Development Promotion Center, ‘Local Governance Mapping in Albania’ (2020).
[8] ibid.
[9] ibid.
[10] See, for example, report section 6.1.on Civic Engagement towards Urban-Rural Linkages in Albania.
