Local governments in Hungary are increasingly facing financial challenges, a situation which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. How can the fiscal and institutional framework at local level be improved, and what kind of skills and expertise do relevant authorities need in order to provide valid and sustainable solutions?
The new Council of Europe – European Union project “Local Government Public Finance Development and Municipal Capacity Building in Hungary” aims at identifying appropriate answers. The project started on 1 September 2022 and will last 24 months. It is being implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance.
On 13 September, the project was launched through a Conference addressing mayors and other relevant stakeholders. Representatives from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), the Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities (TÖOSZ, the main project beneficiary), the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance and the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance discussed the main deliverables and the impact of the initiative on the Hungarian local governments. The above-mentioned bodies held a kick-off meeting the previous day to agree on the first steps of the implementation, and will also be part of the Advisory Group of the project.
Through the project, the Centre of Expertise will organise a Peer Review and offer policy advice to the Hungarian authorities. It will also support the creation of a Working Group on Local Finances to act as a forum for dialogue and exchange among different tiers of government, and it will facilitate the development of an information system related to financial data on the existing Local Government Data Platform. Drawing from its wide set of toolkits, the Centre of Expertise will design a set of benchmarks and performance indicators, focusing on standard services, financial management and public ethics criteria, and will organise capacity-building activities in order to strengthen the knowledge of good democratic governance issues at the local level.
The project is co-funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument 2022 and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission.
