The Joint Committee of Government and Local Self-Government – towards the empowerment of local self-government

Abstract

The Joint Committee of Government and Local Self-Government has been operating for over 25 years. It is an institution that was conceived as having an advisory capacity, as a unique instrument of dialogue between the government authority and local self-government. However, experience over the last four years has shown that the central authority has marginalized the role of the Joint Committee, ignoring it completely in the legislative process – the vast majority of changes in the powers of the self-government authorities were introduced through member bills, which do not require an opinion from the Joint Committee. In this article, the authors propose extensive reforms to empower local self-government through the empowerment of the Joint Committee. Its fundamental recommendations are to furnish the Joint Committee with the right of legislative initiative, the right to file a motion with the Constitutional Tribunal, and the introduction of a group legislative initiative to the governing authorities of local self-government units.