Rasi: Slovakia Set for Major Local Self-government Reform

Liptovsky Mikulas, 27 October (TASR) - House Speaker Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) said on Monday during the Interior Ministry's congress with municipal leaders that Slovakia is set for a major bottom-up reform of local self-government, TASR reported on the same day. The congress is taking place to mark the 35th anniversary of the re-establishment of local self-government in Slovakia. According to Rasi, the Slovak Towns and Villages Association (ZMOS), the Union of Slovak Towns and Cities (UMS) and the Self-governing Regions Association (SK8) are preparing a joint proposal to outline their views on the modernisation and future of local self-goverment. The first draft is expected in the next few weeks. "Once they present it, we'll find a solution that we can bring into legislative form. We're waiting for the associations, which stated very correctly that they should be the ones to come up with a proposed solution," explained Rasi, noting that the associations have a huge number of analyses to work with. When they present their proposal, a discussion will immediately begin on what should come next and what the system should look like, he added. Interior Ministry State Secretary Michal Kalinak noted that while the associations are preparing their proposal, the ministry is currently amending existing laws to enable local self-government to be modernised by removing various shortcomings. "We want to establish equal standards, so that what applies to towns and villages will also apply to self-governing regions. We are also setting up a model, for the first time in 35 years, via the law on chief auditors," said Kalinak, noting that 7 percent of municipalities in Slovakia are currently without a chief auditor. Next year, he added, the ministry intends to bring all municipal laws and generally binding regulations under a single framework. Every local authority will be able to use a special editor for adjusting its own municipal rules — for example, the levels of dog tax or property tax. "They will no longer have to pay lawyers to draft them and then wait for what the public or the prosecutor's office will say about it," added Kalinak. jrg/df