Salwa TobbalaYasmine Fouaad

May 25, 2011

Content1. Why to Decentralize?2. Local and Central Institutional Arrangement3. Assignment of functions and responsibilities4. LG Elections5. LG Revenue & Expenditures6. Institutional and Technical Capacity7. Case Study: Environment Sector

1 .Why to decentralize?1989: Central and East European countries

decided to decentralize decision making aiming for:

Democratization economic developmentand effective service delivery at the local level

:2 .Local and Central Institutional ArrangementPoland created a legal environment to give

Polish local governments the authority to meet responsibilities delegated by the State and their local communities

Constitution 1997 :Article 15(Chapter VII) L0cal Government

Constitution 1997Article 151. The territorial system of the Republic of Poland

shall ensure the decentralization of public power.

2. The basic territorial division of the State shall be determined by statute, allowing for the social, economic and cultural ties which ensure to the territorial units the capacity to perform their public duties.

:2 .Local and Central Institutional Arrangement

20 years of Local Government Development1990: only the gmina, i.e. the basic municipal level of

government was formedThe municipal authorities obtained a substantial autonomy

and a much stronger political position

1998:Two other levels of local government were formed,the local

governments have been operating on 3 levels:

16 regions (voivodship) 379 counties (powiat) 2413 municipalities (gmina)

:2 .Local and Central Institutional Arrangement

STRUCTURE OF POLISH PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Council of Ministers

concentratedadministration

concentratedadministration

Voivoship’s Office

deconcentratedadministration

deconcentratedadministration

voivodship self-government

poviat self-government

communeself-government

state administration self-government

central level

regional level

(upper )local level

local level

3.Local Structure:Gemina bodies are elected directly:

council of a commune (legislative body) wójt / burmistrz / prezydent miasta (executive)

Poviat bodies are: council of a poviat (legislative) elected directly board of poviat (executive) elected by council

Voivodship bodies are: Council (known as Sejmik) (legislative) elected directly Board (executive, with Marshall as its’ head) elected

by Council

4. Functions and Responsibilities: A. Communebasic tier of local government “gemina”

water and sewage services, solid waste disposal, street cleaning, street lighting

central district heating, gas, maintenance and construction of streets and local roads

city public transportation, municipal housing provision of education services, including primary

schools culture, including local libraries and leisure

centers, some social services including services for elderly, handicapped and homeless people

physical planning, building permissions

B. Poviat functions and responsibilitiessecond tier of local self-governmentresponsible for local:

secondary education, health care1, maintenance and construction of roads some of social services labor offices (from 2000), natural disasters’ protection, consumer protection, land surveying

C. Voivodship functions and responsibilities: Tier of regional self-government

Dual structure of public administration (Voivod as the central government’s representation)

Superior of Deconcentrated state administration (e.g. State Fire Service, Veterinary Inspection, Inspection of Environment

Protection)

Represent Concentrated administration (e.g. custom and taxation administration, military administration, statistic

administration)

Voivodship self-government are responsible mainly of: regional development ,economic and sustainable development limited regional public services (higher education, specialised health

services)

3. Elections of LG:4 YearsPolitical Parties were not part of LG

representation prior 19971998 New LG election Law:

elections to local councils in municipalities with < 20,000 residents are won by majority

municipalities > 20,000 residents a proportional system is implemented

basic territorial unit for local council elections is the constituency (electoral district)

constituency between 500 and 3,000 residents usually one councilor per electoral district

4 .LG Revenue:Income from taxes levied and collected

including: real estate tax, agricultural tax, forest tax, inheritance and grant tax etc.

Equalisation grant: below 85% of national average

Administrative tasks delegated by central government

LG Revenues 2009

48,6%

22,1%

29,3%

Dochody własne Dotacje ogółem Subwencja ogólnaGrantsTransfersLocal Revenues

LG Expenditures

In 1995, local expenditure reached up to 19 % of all public expenditures

In 1998, local expenditure reached up to 22 % of all public expenditures

In 2006, local expenditure reached up to 30% of all public expenditures

http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2009/072709.pdf

5. Capacity Building:Poland’s National School of Public AdministrationKSAP 1990:

Main Responsibilities:Train and prepare members of Poland’s Civil

Service CorpsPrepare a cadre of higher-ranking officials in the

country’s administration

LG Personnel should be competent, politically neutral and capable of being held accountable to their tasks

KSAP:Criteria for KSAP students:

An open and competitive recruitment procedureAn upper age limit of 32 Possession of a Master’s degree

The training period at KSAP is to last a minimum of 18 months

Graduates are under an obligation to take up positions in the central administration for a minimum of 5 years

Environment Sector

Legal framework The Constitution of Poland includes a direct provision on environmental protection in Article

71. This article proclaims the citizen's right to profit from the natural environment and his duty to protect it

In 1997, Article 73 provides more detailed elaboration on the environment with division of roles and responsibilities between the state and the citizens

 Governmental Policy on Environmental Protection of 1991 aims to eliminate the communist rationale of "social interest" in the arbitrary consumption of natural resources

Nature protection in Polish environmental law encompasses the provision on the protection of landscape, parks and nature reserves as well as wildlife protection. This group of regulation is composed of the Nature Protection Act of 1991

Environmental law in Poland encompasses the following fields of regulation: anti-pollution,

nature protection, management of natural resources, procedural matters and organization, product control.

 

Responsibilities of central government The office of the EPM was created in 1989. The competence of the minister comprises

environmental protection, including nature protection and protection of the marine environment; the management of natural resources; water management and protection against floods; forestry and the protection of forest lands; hunting; meteorology, hydrology and geology.

So almost all environmental issues are concentrated in one central authority.

 

Responsibilities of central government The minister is obliged to prepare the principles of the

government's environmental protection policy. He or she is entitled to participate in the financial and economic planning process. He or she is empowered to regulate the use of natural resources and to create the financial basis for environmental protection.

The minister possesses some legislative power: he or she may issue executive orders if empowered to do so by parliamentary acts. He or she is also authorized to prepare bills and drafts of executive orders for the Ministers' Council.

He or she has power to decide on the validity of the administrative decisions of regional governors; such decisions may be appealed for review to the Central Administrative Court. He or she may issue administrative instructions but these are binding only on subordinated

Institutional set up

Enforcement by the central

Administrative court

Restructure in the institutional set up

Environmental authority (Directorate General for

environmental protection )

State forest in 2008 (forest = 28.9% of

national territory ) 18 regional

( Voivodship

Directorates

Environmental impact Assessment

Nature conservation managementPenalties for environmental damages

overseeing the forest

management through only the central level

Regional Water

Management Authorities

Minister of Environment

400 NGOs as Watch dogs at the local level

Sources of revenues :The main source of revenues is based on

environmental funds: the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, the provincial, voivodship, funds for environmental protection and water management, the county, poviat, and municipal, gmina, and funds for environmental protection and water management

The Bank for Environmental Protection which cooperates with them.

They are complemented with central budget funds

Resources of the fund

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Outlays Total Estimate(Billion)

Foreign Resources

State Budget

National Fund for Environment Protection

Self-Governmental

Public resources including

Private resources

Resources for environment 2009 – 2012

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Outlays Total Estimate(Billion)

Foreign Resources

State Budget

National Fund for Environment Protection

Self-Governmental

Public resources including

Private resources

Resources for environment 2013– 2016

Expenditures for environment 2009-2012 − protection of the atmospheric air - 19.3 billion PLN,

− water protection and water management - 36.1 billion PLN,

− waste management - 6.7 billion PLN,

− various environmental objectives, such as projects in the field of protection against noise and electromagnetic fields impacts, land protection, nature conservation, protection of biological diversity and landscape, environmental research and development, environmental monitoring and other sectors of environmental protection (major accidents, chemicals, biotechnology and GMOs, ionising radiation) - 4.1 billion PLN

Expenditures for environment 2013-2016 It is estimated that outlays for environmental

investments (2007 prices) as required to achieve the objectives of in this period, with regard to specific environmental investment clusters, will be following:

protection of the atmospheric air : 21.3 billion PLN,water protection and water management :34.4

billion PLN, waste management : 4.6 billion PLN. other objectives of environmental policy: 3.2

billion PLN

Technical assistance and capacity building The Small Grants Programme (SGP) funded

by the Global Environment Facility( GEF) and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has made 372 grants to NGOs and CBOs.

The major financial allocations are to the biodiversity (69 percent) and climate change (25 percent) focal areas

There are three major clusters of SGP projects, namely nature protection (52 percent of projects),renewable and efficient energy (24 percent), and agrobiodiversity (15 percent).

Technical assistance and capacity building The SGP has been operating in the whole country,

concentrating mostly on the northeastern and southern regions of Poland to build the capacity of local NGOs and CBOs

The SGP has disbursed $6.76 million in small grants, generating projects worth $33 million from different sources ( 81% public fund and 19% private resources)

This indicator illustrates the previous tables where the large portion of funds for environmental projects depends on foreign resources, private resources or public resources from different national and local established funds

Conclusion Poland has an independent financially

decentralized environmental management system not heavily relying on state budget at the central level.

Paradoxically , this DEM is still administratively tied to the central level to attain full executive power at the local level

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