Local and regional authorities have an essential role to play in ensuring good democratic governance, and in providing vital public services to citizens. This requires appropriate financial resources at each level of government according to their responsibilities and financial needs, an equitable distribution of resources as well as their efficient management. Access to and use of data is essential for local governments in planning and managing financial resources and public services, and to measure performance objectively.
In Hungary, the Council of Europe’s Centre of Expertise for Good Governance (CEGG) is currently implementing a joint European Commission - Council of Europe project to support the Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities (TÖOSZ), the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance in strengthening dialogue and cooperation on intergovernmental financial relations and to increase access to and use of data by local government stakeholders.
The CEGG, in close cooperation with the European Committee on Democracy and Governance, identified a group of peers and experts from Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Romania, Slovakia and the United Kingdom to undertake a Peer Review in Budapest from 12-14 September 2023. The Peer Review team held exchanges with representatives from relevant Hungarian ministries and agencies, municipalities, local government associations and local government experts.
During the discussions, the Peers shared experience and good practice from their member State in key areas such as approaches to financial equalisation and the development of integrated databases for local government finance and performance measurement. A Peer Review Report will be prepared to reflect the discussions and will include the peers’ recommendations to support the Hungarian authorities in their efforts, based on European standards for good democratic governance as well as relevant examples from member States.
The project ‘Local Government Public Finance Development and Municipal Capacity Building in Hungary’ is co-funded by the European Commission (DG REFORM) via the Technical Support Instrument 2022 and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance.
