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https://doi.org/10.31297/hkju.17.2.5
Functional Decentralisation in Croatia Fifteen Years On
Josip Jambrač
orcid.org/0000-0002-6396-2982
; doktorski student Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Sažetak
Following the changes to its constitution in 2000, Croatia created the legal conditions for functional decentralisation. In the second half of 2001 the central state transferred certain functions to 53 local and regional units (out of a total of 576). The central government partly transferred the financing of education, health, and social welfare. A year later the government also authorised certain units to finance firefighting services. The article analyses the starting data for all the areas of public services decentralised by the central state with regard to the expenditure for every single function per capita and examines the changes thereof until 2015. Furthermore, the analysis attempts to show trends related to expenditure per capita over the 2001–2011 census period and their consequences. Specifically, the article compares the starting position of the units to which decentralized functions were transferred to with their position over ten years, in 2015. The findings show increased bias and inequality between units with transferred functions. The decentralisation process included fewer than ten per cent of the total number of subnational units. In addition, the central state involved regional units in the decentralisation process in order to deal with small local units that lack capacities. Finally, the findings indicate that this decentralisation process did not bring about increased effectiveness. In other words, fifteen years after the implementation of functional decentralisation it could only be said that the process has resulted in a significant rise in the number of subjects, but not in
increased effectiveness. Much more importantly, the process and its application indicators are in sharp contrast with constitutional intentions.
Ključne riječi
functional decentralization; local expenditures per capita; town; county; effectiveness
Hrčak ID:
183527
URI
Datum izdavanja:
27.6.2017.
Posjeta: 2.029 *