Page 136 - RIMD_4
P. 136
136 R e v u ed el ’ I n s t i t u td uM o n d ee td udéveloppement
of general decrees which have real legal effectuality more times.
These two examples prove existing dependency of superior territorial units’
bodies and their policy-making activities on politics. In light of self-go-
vernment character of these bodies, it is a right of regional inhabitants to
decide on their political composition, however, such political dependency
is harmful in terms of regional development.
The other problem which has to be solved in the near future is a too high
fragmentation of communal self-government units. The increasing pro-
blems of rural areas in the SR have caused a gradual outflow of economi-
cally active people to towns or urban areas (see for instance Grzebyk, 2010).
Furthermore, young people who leave villages to study in towns do not
return to their villages after finishing their studies because they see no fu-
ture there (especially if their villages belong among the group of smallest or
the group of small communities, i.e. less than 500 inhabitants or less than
2,000 inhabitants). Rural areas are thus becoming depopulated and are in-
creasingly inhabited by elderly people and pensioners (Kling, 2003, p. 473).
Many of such atomized units are not even able to perform their tasks, and
recently have to look for co-operation possibilities. The unification of their
approaches should indeed be introduced. One of the unification possibili-
ties is introduction of local laboratories that have never been introduced
in the SR. Although it is not an automatically effective tool – Iancu (2007)
showed that while in some countries (e.g. Sweden) this tool have brought
clear positive results, there are also countries (e.g. Romania) where this tool
have not brought expected results – it may be a possible means to put the
amalgamation of communities into Slovak practice.
Additional problem is associated with self-government units and control of
their activities. Although an external control has already been introduced,
the relatively high degree of independence of representative bodies in the
decision-making process within the public sector at the local level is, on one
hand, a positive fact but, on the other hand, practice shows that the control
system of administration in self-government is not working satisfactorily
or effectively (Malíková and Staroňová, 2000, p. 71). The most problematic
issue seems to be the fact that principal controller of community is appoin-
ted by the mayor with the approval of communal board. It is quite clear that
such method of occupation of this position may lead to preferring of some
specific political interests or, especially in the cases of small communities,
to problems linked with finding of well-prepared appointees (nowadays it
is possible to find many cases in which small Slovak communities share
one principal controller). Introducing changes into the existing elective
mechanism could solve this problem. With this respect, an amalgamation
of the communities could make such proposal easier to be accepted. Next
to introducing effective system of control over self-government units there
is systematic need for monitoring and evaluation of municipal activities
o
RIMD–n 4–2013
of general decrees which have real legal effectuality more times.
These two examples prove existing dependency of superior territorial units’
bodies and their policy-making activities on politics. In light of self-go-
vernment character of these bodies, it is a right of regional inhabitants to
decide on their political composition, however, such political dependency
is harmful in terms of regional development.
The other problem which has to be solved in the near future is a too high
fragmentation of communal self-government units. The increasing pro-
blems of rural areas in the SR have caused a gradual outflow of economi-
cally active people to towns or urban areas (see for instance Grzebyk, 2010).
Furthermore, young people who leave villages to study in towns do not
return to their villages after finishing their studies because they see no fu-
ture there (especially if their villages belong among the group of smallest or
the group of small communities, i.e. less than 500 inhabitants or less than
2,000 inhabitants). Rural areas are thus becoming depopulated and are in-
creasingly inhabited by elderly people and pensioners (Kling, 2003, p. 473).
Many of such atomized units are not even able to perform their tasks, and
recently have to look for co-operation possibilities. The unification of their
approaches should indeed be introduced. One of the unification possibili-
ties is introduction of local laboratories that have never been introduced
in the SR. Although it is not an automatically effective tool – Iancu (2007)
showed that while in some countries (e.g. Sweden) this tool have brought
clear positive results, there are also countries (e.g. Romania) where this tool
have not brought expected results – it may be a possible means to put the
amalgamation of communities into Slovak practice.
Additional problem is associated with self-government units and control of
their activities. Although an external control has already been introduced,
the relatively high degree of independence of representative bodies in the
decision-making process within the public sector at the local level is, on one
hand, a positive fact but, on the other hand, practice shows that the control
system of administration in self-government is not working satisfactorily
or effectively (Malíková and Staroňová, 2000, p. 71). The most problematic
issue seems to be the fact that principal controller of community is appoin-
ted by the mayor with the approval of communal board. It is quite clear that
such method of occupation of this position may lead to preferring of some
specific political interests or, especially in the cases of small communities,
to problems linked with finding of well-prepared appointees (nowadays it
is possible to find many cases in which small Slovak communities share
one principal controller). Introducing changes into the existing elective
mechanism could solve this problem. With this respect, an amalgamation
of the communities could make such proposal easier to be accepted. Next
to introducing effective system of control over self-government units there
is systematic need for monitoring and evaluation of municipal activities
o
RIMD–n 4–2013
