Government Establishes Council for Monitoring the Implementation of the State Administration Reform Strategy

The Government of the Republic of Croatia is establishing the National Council for the Evaluation of the Modernization of State Administration for the period from 2008 to 2011. Its aim is to monitor the political and professional aspects of the state administration reform and to provide recommendations to the Government, it was stated at today’s Government session.

The Council, which will include one representative from the Parliament, five representatives from the Government, one representative from civil society, trade unions, and the National Council for Competitiveness, as well as three experts in the field of administration, will oversee the implementation of the State Administration Reform Strategy, ensure political and professional support for the reforms, and provide recommendations to the Government based on the evaluation of the reform results. Eight months before the local elections, the Government accepted amendments to the Law on Local and Regional Self-Government with the final proposal of the Law.

What does it change? Local self-government units with more than 10,000 inhabitants will be able to have two deputies of the municipal mayor, city mayor, or county prefect instead of just one. Antun Palarić, State Secretary of the Central State Office for Administration, says that in larger units, having only one deputy has proven to be a significant problem due to the abundance of tasks that need to be completed.

The law also allows them the choice to decide whether to work in local administration as employees, on full salary, or without establishing an employment relationship, as many units are not financially strong enough to employ two more deputies.
In local self-government units where members of national minorities make up the majority of the population, and members of the Croatian people have the right to proportional representation, one deputy must be from the ranks of the Croatian people, which must be regulated by the statute of the local self-government unit. If this right is not realized, supplementary elections will be announced. Deputy Prime Minister Đurđa Adlešić added that this will stabilize local government.

The Government also decided to distribute the profit of the Homeland War Veterans Fund. Minister Jadranka Kosor proposed that this year one-third of the profit, which amounts to about 60 million kuna, be allocated to the Fund for Scholarships for the Children of Croatian Veterans. Last year, 10,017 scholarships were awarded for attending high school, university, and postgraduate studies.
This year, there will be approximately 4,500 more.