The financing of municipalities in the current programming period and the challenges facing local authorities were discussed at a meeting at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works

The funding opportunities and challenges for municipalities in the current programming period were discussed at a meeting under the project “Development of Fiscal Decentralisation and Improvement of Financial Management at Local Level in Bulgaria”, which took place at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. It was opened by Valentin Gramatikov, Policy Advisor in the Office of the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works. It was attended by representatives of the Council of Europe, international consultants and experts from the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works.

The discussions also focused on issues related to the administrative-territorial structure in the country, the categorization of municipalities and the Decentralization Strategy for the period 2021-2025.

The experience gained by the local authorities in the implementation of projects with EU funds during the previous two programming periods was reported. The problems they faced were the refinancing of activities reimbursable by ERDF, as well as the provision of self-benefiting and additional sources of funding by small and medium-sized municipalities, especially in the regional development programmes. The implementation of tendering procedures is also a challenge for smaller ones. Therefore, the participants in the meeting drew attention to the need to increase capacity and expertise in local government to overcome the difficulties.

The project “Development of Fiscal Decentralisation and Improvement of Financial Management at Local Level in Bulgaria” aims to support the financial autonomy of municipalities in Bulgaria in line with European practices by helping local authorities to improve the legal, financial and strategic framework for fiscal decentralisation, to increase the level of own revenues, and to develop the competences of their staff to apply the relevant standards in their work. This is expected to result in a more efficient use of EU and national budget funds by municipalities.

The project is funded by the European Union through the Technical Assistance Facility and implemented by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the European Commission. Its budget is 611 112 euro. The deadline for its implementation is the end of February 2024. In addition to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the project also involves the Ministry of Finance, the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria and other interested organisations.