Association of municipalities marks 50th anniversary
Skopje, 26 April 2022 (MIA) – Exactly 50 years ago, the Association of Local Self-Government Units of the Republic of North Macedonia (ZELS) was formed by uniting 34 municipalities. Today, ZELS unites 80 municipalities and another, separate local self-government unit, which is the City of Skopje.
“Five decades of successful working later, ZELS continues to fulfill its primary function, which is to meet all demands that local self-government units have in terms of securing fiscal independence and ensuring stability for the municipalities, as well as representing their interests,” said ZELS President Danela Arsovska speaking Tuesday at an event marking the milestone.
Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said in his address that the cooperation between the central and local government is crucial, and that’s why they have the same goal – to focus all resources towards the country’s overall economic development.
“The government supports balanced regional economic development, that is why we have organized infrastructure projects to improve the living conditions in the municipalities and projects to increase their financial independence. 94 infrastructure projects are being implemented, directly targeting the needs of the citizens with a total value of EUR 49.7 million. Some of the projects have been completed, and some are in the final phase and should be realized this year,” said Kovachevski.
He added that in 2018, the municipalities were given EUR 50 million in aid, in order to service 50 percent of their debt. Permanent legal solutions for systemic functionality and independent work of the municipalities are now being implemented. With the amendments to the Law on Financing of the Local Self-government Units, the Prime Minister says that the decentralization is strengthened and the maximum possible transfer of competencies from central to local level is enabled.
"For that purpose, a reform is being implemented to promote fiscal decentralization through three main pillars, namely the growth of municipal revenues, debt repayment, as well as transparent operations," he added.
In response to a journalist question, Prime Minister Kovachevski said that the biggest problem that the world and the government is currently facing is the supply of electricity, i.e., the price of electricity and other energy sources.
He pointed out that, at a meeting with ZELS, they reached an agreement that all municipalities give their needs – i.e., electricity consumption for educational institutions, cultural institutions and street lighting because different municipalities have different needs.
“Some of them work with energy efficient street lights, some work with lights that are not energy efficient, and that consumption was recorded in the Ministry of Economy, obliging the of the state electricity producer to find a way to nominate electricity, according to the needs of municipalities for different purposes and to provide the most favorable possible price that can be obtained on the market given the growing and still high, several times higher than normal, electricity prices,” explained the Prime Minister.
He added that the Government has prepared laws, i.e., the concept of fiscal decentralization, to increase the revenues of the municipalities, regarding the establishment of a Performance Fund for those municipalities that have better performance in dealing with tax collection and efficient performance of their obligations in order to get more.
“The municipalities that, due to objective constraints, have less opportunity to collect taxes, can be financed by the Settlement Fund for municipalities that are less developed, with less capacity, additionally, we can introduce financial instruments for debt relief of municipalities that are innovative but standard in good part of the state, and finally, improving the efficiency of municipal administrations in order to better collect taxes, which of course, certain government institutions will take part in which will have to help the municipalities,” the PM said.
The speeches of the ZELS President and the Prime Minister were followed by an exhibition of drawings by fourth grade students from schools in several municipalities, who made drawings titled “My Municipality – My Beloved Home” for ZELS’ 50th anniversary. Also, a new Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the government of the Republic of North Macedonia and ZELS, because the current one was signed on March 5th 2003. dk/ba/
Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said in his address that the cooperation between the central and local government is crucial, and that’s why they have the same goal – to focus all resources towards the country’s overall economic development.
“The government supports balanced regional economic development, that is why we have organized infrastructure projects to improve the living conditions in the municipalities and projects to increase their financial independence. 94 infrastructure projects are being implemented, directly targeting the needs of the citizens with a total value of EUR 49.7 million. Some of the projects have been completed, and some are in the final phase and should be realized this year,” said Kovachevski.
He added that in 2018, the municipalities were given EUR 50 million in aid, in order to service 50 percent of their debt. Permanent legal solutions for systemic functionality and independent work of the municipalities are now being implemented. With the amendments to the Law on Financing of the Local Self-government Units, the Prime Minister says that the decentralization is strengthened and the maximum possible transfer of competencies from central to local level is enabled.
"For that purpose, a reform is being implemented to promote fiscal decentralization through three main pillars, namely the growth of municipal revenues, debt repayment, as well as transparent operations," he added.
In response to a journalist question, Prime Minister Kovachevski said that the biggest problem that the world and the government is currently facing is the supply of electricity, i.e., the price of electricity and other energy sources.
He pointed out that, at a meeting with ZELS, they reached an agreement that all municipalities give their needs – i.e., electricity consumption for educational institutions, cultural institutions and street lighting because different municipalities have different needs.
“Some of them work with energy efficient street lights, some work with lights that are not energy efficient, and that consumption was recorded in the Ministry of Economy, obliging the of the state electricity producer to find a way to nominate electricity, according to the needs of municipalities for different purposes and to provide the most favorable possible price that can be obtained on the market given the growing and still high, several times higher than normal, electricity prices,” explained the Prime Minister.
He added that the Government has prepared laws, i.e., the concept of fiscal decentralization, to increase the revenues of the municipalities, regarding the establishment of a Performance Fund for those municipalities that have better performance in dealing with tax collection and efficient performance of their obligations in order to get more.
“The municipalities that, due to objective constraints, have less opportunity to collect taxes, can be financed by the Settlement Fund for municipalities that are less developed, with less capacity, additionally, we can introduce financial instruments for debt relief of municipalities that are innovative but standard in good part of the state, and finally, improving the efficiency of municipal administrations in order to better collect taxes, which of course, certain government institutions will take part in which will have to help the municipalities,” the PM said.
The speeches of the ZELS President and the Prime Minister were followed by an exhibition of drawings by fourth grade students from schools in several municipalities, who made drawings titled “My Municipality – My Beloved Home” for ZELS’ 50th anniversary. Also, a new Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the government of the Republic of North Macedonia and ZELS, because the current one was signed on March 5th 2003. dk/ba/ 
