Baltic conference on European Union and Local Government

Norbert Pijls

23 – 25 April, 2003

Riga, Latvia

Evaluation

Soup

Limitations• Limited time for formulating results• Limited perspective for formulating results

Expectations:• General conclusions for the Baltics• Points for further discussion

Objective 1

1. Increased awareness in the Baltic States of the influence of the EU on the local level

a) Improved knowledge of adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire at the local level

b) Improved knowledge of EU Funds

c) Familiarity with lobbying for local governments in the EU

Objective 2

2. Increased awareness of the need for local governance reform in the Baltic States

a) Increased awareness about need for increasing the administrative capacity of local governments

b) Increased responsibility of national institutions to assist local governments on the implementation of the acquis communautaire

c) Increased responsibility of national institutions to assist local governments in acquiring European Funds

1A: Improved knowledge of adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire

General:• Distinction between direct effect and indirect effect for

local governments.• Make information accessible for local governments

(information centres)• Article 10: Loyal co-operation is expected• Article 226: Member state liability (this also affects local

governments)• Key players and their roles• Committee of Regions is your representative player.

Agree on procedures for selection of representatives of local governments

1A: Improved knowledge of adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire

Procurement:• EU procurement takes place in a glass house• EU public procurement breaks the tradition of home

supplier• EU public procurement leads to competition with foreign

companies• Local companies will go to court if necessary• Current public procurement legislation in the Baltics is

EU conform• Developing and implementing procedures at local level

will take time [and not always lead to good results]

1A: Improved knowledge of adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire

State aid:• State aid becomes problematic when it reduces the

freedom of competition and trade between member states

• Clarification is needed on state aid in relation to privatisation of public tasks

• Procedures need to be developed on how to inform the EU commission on ‘local’ state aid

• In case of uncertainty of possibilities of state aid notify the EU commission.

1A: Improved knowledge of adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire

Water management:• Good maintenance of existing installations is a first step

• EU conform water management starts with joint development of planning strategies (scale, legislation, institution building and economy [cost recovery])

• National governments give no priority to water management (nor in legal nor in financial terms). Local government should put it on the agenda

1A: Improved knowledge of adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire

Social Affairs and employment:• Policies for social affairs and unemployment are unified

by a bottom up approach: open co-ordination method• Open co-ordination stimulates learning from other

countries• Develop capacity at local level for statistical analyses• Important problems in EU member states are mismatch of

demand and supply in the labour market and insufficient co-operation between stakeholders to overcome this gap

• Reintegration is more difficult in the case of long term unemployed, low education, alcoholism and an aging population.

1B: Improved knowledge of EU Funds

1. Pre accession funds– Information on PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD widely

available– Absorption capacity seems to be sufficient.– There is however:

• A lack of good proposals• A lack of project management skills at local level• A lack of small local governments working together to

achieve funds• A lack of familiarity with outsourcing

– Competition within and between countries– The principle of jealousy

1B: Improved knowledge of EU Funds

2. Structural funds– Information on ERDF, ESF, EAGGF and FIFG not yet

widely available– Project Proposal Facilities are being made available for

local governments– The role for local governments:

• Project identification• Project development• Partnership building• Project management and monitoring• Co-funding, payments and financial control

– Local governments need logical framework trainings

1C: Familiarity with lobbying for local governments in the EU

• Lobbying is the exchange of information

• Lobbying is based on a network of changing coalitions that try to exercise influence

• Lobbying is 80% homework and 20% meetings

• Effective and efficient lobbying for local governments needs close co-operation (between local governments and between local government associations)

• Next step: representative office for the Baltic States in Brussels?

2A: Increased awareness about need for increasing the administrative capacity of local governments

• Administrative capacity is considered insufficient by local governments in all Baltic States

– Lack of local expertise on legal EU issues– Support from political and management layers is

prerequisite for change– Supply and demand of training needs to be fine-

tuned through co-operation between Training Centres and Local Government Associations

– Stimulate amalgamation in Latvia and Estonia

2B: Increased responsibility of national institutions to assist local governments on the implementation of the acquis comm.

• In all Baltic States local governments need more assistance of central government

– Associations fulfil a central role in opening communication channels

– Loc. Gov. EU Information desks at national level• Provision and pre-selection of information

• Assistance to local governments with advice

• Answering questions

• Maintain and broaden network of expertise

2C: Increased responsibility of national institutions to assist local governments in acquiring European Funds

• National government is aware of need for assistance but needs information for defining role of local governments

• Local governance should be mentioned as key issue in National Programming Document and Single Programming Documents

• Local governments associations should lobby for both• Timely preparations of projects for local governments

needs timely information from central government on programme requirements and deadlines

• Co-operation between national and local governments is needed to find sufficient sources for co-financing

• Establish a national EU information centre for local governments that provides info. on EU funds