European Administrative Area

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TIBISCUS UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS
BUSINESS STRATEGY IN THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT
Master Year II
EUROPEAN ADMINISTRATIVE AREA
Coordinator master
Lect.dr.univ. Criÿan Gheorghe Benyÿ Alexandra
Timisoara
2014
1
content
Introduction 3
HEAD. Q: Getting started 5
1.1. The functioning of the supranationality of the European Union 5
1.2. Involvement of national parliaments in the European institutional activity 5
1.3. Community administration. National administrations 6
1.4. Community, states and regions 7
HEAD. II: Organization and principles 9
2.1. European administrative area 9
2.2. Convergence 10
2.3. Common principles applied to public administration in European Union countries 11
2.4. Specialized administrative structures in the countries of the European Union 13
2.5. Organization of local public administration in European Union countries 14
2.5.1. The principle of decentralization 14
2.5.2. The principle of local autonomy 15
2.5.3. Administrative guardianship 18
2.6. Financial autonomy of local authorities 19
2.6.1. Decentralization of expenditures for economic relations 20
HEAD. III: Local public finances in the countries of the European Union 21
3.1. Local government loans 21
3.1.1. Conditions for contracting or guaranteeing loans 2. 3
3.1.2. Risk fund 24
3.1.3. Loans from the general current account of the State Treasury 24
3.2. Local public spending 27
3.3. Local budgets 27
HEAD. IV: The public administration system in France 28
4.1. Management of local public services 30
4.2. Management without distinct moral personality 30
2
4.3. Management with distinct public moral personality 31
4.4. Intercommunal cooperation structures 31
4.5. Partnership management within a private legal entity 32
4.6. Management through private partners 33
HEAD. V: Control in the European Administrative Area 33
5.1. Committee of the Regions (CoR) 33
5.2. Ombudsman - non-jurisdictional control in the European Administrative Area 36
conclusions 36
Bibliography 37
3
Introduction
The considerable progress of European construction from the 1970s to the 1980s, the start of
monetary Europe, the completion of the single market, the development of federal virtualities with the
European Union established by the Maastricht Treaty underline the growing complexity of the process. States
are increasingly integrating, but at the same time they remain key players, with the European framework
being both a constraint and an instrument.
Andrew Moravcsik, writing in the 1990s, speaks of "liberal intergovernmentalism": policies pursued
within the European framework are essentially the result of intergovernmental negotiations.
But doesn't that mean forgetting the autonomous power of supranational institutions? Pierre Muller believes
" that
Robert Keohane's
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sovereignty with each other, guaranteeing mutual discipline. "European construction would be a particularly
elaborate form of the regime." In Giandomenico Majone's view, "the European Community would be a typical
organizing state, with the mission of establishing and supervising the rules of the game, especially competition
between companies, aid to states."
It is out of these considerations that the increasingly used notion of contemporary research, that of
governance, is outlined. Governance is not given, it is constantly being built on multiple levels: European
institutions, governments, pressure groups. The European Union would be the prototype of the state
postmodern, gaining its legitimacy less from common goals (enlargement, power, social justice) and more
from its ability to allow the development of freedoms (of individuals, enterprises, groups, etc.).
For each of the Member States, European engagement, participation in the construction of a
supranational ensemble, is a historic option. By building the European Community and all that it entails, each
Member State becomes part of a whole that transcends it, frames it, subordinates it to the law of an ongoing
right, Community law and, finally, imposes economic and monetary disciplines.
Community Europe, since 1950, has relied on the massive participation of the nation-state in its
construction. The Council of Ministers represents it and not the regions whose committee has only an
advisory role. The draft European Constitution of the European Convention, presented by the European
Council on 18 July 2003, recognizes European diversity, and the principle of subsidiarity and proportionality
seeks to strike a balance between different levels of Community, national, regional or local competence, but
also makes clear reference to preserving the national identity of each state or nation.
The construction of Europe will have to deal with a delicate issue, related to the conciliation between
national sovereignties and the principles of supranational integration. Hence the two opposing conceptions
underlying the projects of European unity:
1. On the one hand, there are those who were concerned with maintaining and respecting the
sovereignty of states and who were proposing intergovernmental cooperation within permanent institutions,
without these having the power to coerce Member States.
2. And on the other hand are those who support a federal and supranational Europe, insisting
on the transfer of sovereignty from nation states to a higher international decision-making authority. Within
this school of thought, the two major orientations are distinguished: the functionalists and the federalists.
Intergovernmentalism and supranationalism will be found both separately and together in the
European construction. Intergovernmentalism favors the role of nation-states in decision-making, and
supranationalism is based on the organisation's independence from nation-states, the transfer of powers for
its benefit, and the direct relations established between community bodies and individuals in all member
states.
The analysis of the relations between the European Community and its member states must be done
4
it first deals with the motives and meanings of the European option for these states. Belonging to the Community,
these states do not disappear, trapped in community structures, they seek to use them, to put them at the service of
their interests and concerns. The integration of these states in the Community, in the Union, transforms them,
modifying the entire institutional network: the role of the national administrations, the control of the national parliaments,
the relations between the central state and the regions, etc.
The sovereign state is a whole. By becoming a member of the European Community, he becomes one of the
parts of a whole. This change radically affects all national structures.
5
CHAPTER I
Getting started
1.1. The functioning of the supranationality of the European Union

The weight, the game of national realities in the community system is expressed, first of all, by the policies
of the member states, but also, more diffusely, by the conflict of sensibilities within the supranational institutions:
ÿ Commission
ÿ European Parliament
ÿ Court of Justice of the Communities
The European Parliament, the EP, is the institution that best represents the citizens of the Union, having
been directly elected since 1979. Its role has been strengthened with the adoption of each treaty, precisely so that
the voice of European citizens can be taken into account when that decisions are made that concern them directly.
It is the institution with the greatest legitimacy of all Community bodies.
The European Parliament was born with the merger of the Assemblies of the three European Communities
in 1957, but did not become a Parliament until the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty.
In terms of its structure, it has been composed of 754 parliamentarians since the entry into force of the
Lisbon Treaty. This is contrary to the provisions of Article 14 of the Treaty on European Union, the consolidated
version, which limits the number of parliamentarians to 751, with a minimum for a 6-member state and a maximum
of 96. The 754 parliamentarians were given the opportunity to complete their term. which expires in 2014. For the
next 2014-2019 legislature, the EP will have 751 members
The European Court of Justice is the one that elaborates most of the administrative legal principles that
govern what can be defined as "European administrative law". The treaties are designed to serve as frameworks
for continuous development. It is the institution that has the most important role in the formation of common
administrative principles in the European Union, its decisions lead to the reflection and development of general
administrative principles, even if they are established on a case-by-case basis. The Court is the main source of
general, non-sectoral Union law. The Court must start from the general administrative legal principles already
established, principles created and defined by the National Administrative Courts of the Member States. By storing
them, general administrative principles, applicable to all Member States and their inhabitants, are then defined in
the legislative framework of the European Community.
Over time, we have witnessed a case of interweaving of European Community law into national systems.
The phenomenon is that it is particularly difficult for any Member State to comply with national and Community law
by treating them separately. Gradually, national institutions applied the same standards and used the same
practices for both. This leads to the idea of a common public administration law, developed in the Member States
of the European Union. This so-called contamination of Community principles by national laws also contributes to
the establishment of a European administrative area.
6
1.2. Involvement of national parliaments in the European institutional activity
Relations between the parliaments of the Member States and the European Parliament cannot be straightforward.
On the one hand, there is a spontaneous solidarity between parliaments, concerned about their prerogatives, always
ready to denounce the inadequacies of democratic control. On the other hand, there is competition between national
parliaments and the European Parliament.
Community development contributes to the decline of national parliaments. What enters the community
field either escapes them or is imposed on them without them being able to make their concerns known.
Thus, many Community directives that are difficult to develop in Brussels are being examined by national
parliaments, such as the texts on tax harmonization. In fact, the possibilities for amendment are nil, with any change
necessarily involving the renegotiation of the text in Brussels.
This development is increasingly difficult for national parliaments to bear. For a long time, the United
Kingdom and Denmark, very distrustful of the Brussels bureaucracy and identifying Parliament with national
sovereignty, have had commissions to systematically study Community proposals. After the signing of the Single
Act in 1986, the increase in the number of directives for the completion of the large internal market marks the first
critical point: national parliaments feel dispossessed. In 1992 and 1993, the debates on the Maastricht Treaty
provoked a great deal of criticism of the European technocracy, as well as substantial increases in national
parliamentary scrutiny in the development of Community rules, especially in France and Germany. All this means
new difficulties for an already very complicated Community procedure. These debates on the ratification of the
Maastricht Treaty lead to an in-depth review of their relationship with European integration at the level of national
parliaments and even lead to constitutional revisions.
National parliaments are the institutions of the national constitutional organization in which European
citizens are best represented, because they are directly elected by universal and free suffrage. With the adoption of
the Treaty of Lisbon, they gained the right to be more involved in the work of the European institutions. Thus, in
accordance with Article 12 TEU, the consolidated version, national parliaments actively contribute to the functioning
of the European Union through the following instruments:
ÿ They are informed by the EU institutions about their legislative activity by sending notifications
ÿ Respect for the principle of subsidiarity and proportionality

ÿ Active participation in EU policy evaluation mechanisms in the area of freedom, security and justice
ÿ Involvement in political control of Europol

ÿ Evaluation of Eurojust's activities
ÿ Informing them about new applications for membership
ÿ Participation in interparliamentary cooperation: national parliaments - EP
National parliaments are constantly informed by the European institutions about the activities of the EU, in
order to give them the opportunity to express their views on issues of particular interest to them.
1.3. Community administration. National administrations
The affiliation of a State to the Community compels its administrations to reformulate their functions. Of
course, administrations remain the instruments of the state, but through the Community process, the rules applied
or designed by these administrations tend to be less and less the expression of royal sovereignty and more and
more rules discussed, negotiated with other Member States and with the Commission. In short, the ministers keep
this task, but the orders and instructions are given by Brussels.
In the face of this dynamic that subordinates them to mechanisms that go beyond them, the administrations
react by two types of reflexes that either oppose or combine.
7
ÿ Resistance, inertia
It is never easy for a bureaucracy to move from leadership to enforcing Community rules. In addition,
especially in the face of the expansionism of Brussels and the growing number of Community texts, national
administrations feel they are protecting their interests. Hence resistance, inertia, very varied from one Member State
to another, from one field to another, many data coming into account (state traditions, the weight of corporatism, the
concern to save professions or threatened areas).
ÿ Collaboration, complicity
The Community rule is the result of a more or less laborious negotiation between the Member States and
the Commission, involving several courts (Commission groups, then
Council, Permanent Representatives Committee,)
The Community Machinery, a daily source of texts, works in a symbiosis between European and national
officials. Some of these officials have been tracking community files for years or even decades. Hence complex
collaborations, in which the conflict of national interests is accompanied by the search for compromises. Community
bureaucracy or technocracy is not limited to the Commission, but comprises countless groups or committees, all
based on ongoing negotiation.
1.4. Community, states and regions
The construction of Europe disturbs, to a certain extent, the relations between the states and their
components, the regions in the first place. There are two attitudes, very different depending on the structures of the
state in question (Jacobin state on the French model, federation on the German model).
As community negotiations are a matter for governments and central governments, the regions can be
considered unwillingly engaged. This is especially the case since the Single Act, the reaction of the German Länder,
which the development of integration lacks important responsibilities: education, culture, environment.
On the other hand, community integration, reducing the powers of the states, creating financial aid through
structural funds, encourages the autonomy of the regions. They are institutionalizing their relations with Brussels.
Many of them have sources of information with the Community institutions and mainly with the Commission. These
offices play a dual role: to keep up to date with developments in Community rules, funding opportunities, and to
make the most of Community money. Thus, the regions are in competition with the Community. This competition
does not prevent the increase in the number of agreements, cooperation, associations between regions: border
regions, maritime peripheral regions, regions with an industrial tradition, capital regions.
This importance of the regions is enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty on European Union: Articles 263-265
EC, Articles 198A-198C set up a Committee of the Regions, in an advisory capacity, composed of representatives
of regional and local authorities.
For France, the Jacobin state has a monopoly on the relations of the national community with the outside world.
This conception is now obsolete or transformed: the French regions, also stolen by the internal decentralization
movement, are gaining access to an international existence with the Community. In 1999, all French regions except
Auvergne were represented in Brussels.
Such developments raise many questions and perspectives: will this internationalization, this Europeanization
be limited (only) to regions? Are cities or urban areas meant to claim their own international life? As for the nation-
state, it performs functions that have traditionally expressed its sovereignty:
• elaboration and control of the legislation of organization of the national territory

• defining and managing transfers and solidarity between developed and disadvantaged regions
The construction of Europe does not abolish nation-states, but demands from them a total re-examination
of the state and their role. For these nation-states, the test is painful, questioning all the balances: between the
interior and the exterior, between the center and the periphery, between the states and the
society.
In addition, community integration, a process with a specific dynamic, cannot be dissociated from wider
phenomena: the globalization of trade, the widening and amplification of competition between industries,
between services, the globalization of financial networks.
In this ever-changing and accelerating landscape, European unification can be seen as an adaptation
of Western European states to the new distribution of power. Acceptance of the pooling of sovereignty, in order
to achieve, at a higher level, that of the Union, a greater independence, an increased freedom of maneuver.
Here, everything depends on the synthesis between the development of unity and the preservation of national,
regional and local diversity. The future of the European Union remains open, with each stage offering an
opportunity to re-discuss its aims. This is especially the case with the single market, the basis of the Community,
and beyond, of the European Union.
9
CHAPTER II
Principles and organization
2.1. European administrative area
Although the public institutions in the states participating in the European Union are very old structures,
they have continuously adapted to modern conditions, including the accession to the European Union implies in
itself an evolution. The constant contact between the civil servants of the Member States of the European Union,
the demand to develop and implement the acquis communautaire at equivalent standards of trust throughout the
Union, the need for a single administrative justice system for Europe and the sharing of public administration
principles and values some convergence between national administrations. This has been described as a European
administrative area.
It includes a set of common standards of action in public administration,

defined by law and strengthened by responsible practices and mechanisms.
The legislative systems of the Member States of the Euro28 Community Area are in a constant process of
approximation, in many different areas, under the guidance of Community law, through the legislative activity of the
Community institutions and through cases of the European Court of Justice.
The legal concepts of the European Community are introduced into national systems by directly applicable directives
or regulations, which must first be adapted to national laws. These directives can have a direct impact on the
administrative systems of the Member States and can lead to important changes in the legal principles applicable
in public administration in a specific sector.
Judgments of the European Court of Justice may give rise to more general principles which apply to more
than one sector of the law. Moreover, in many cases the interpretation of European Community legislation by the
European Court of Justice is the one that leads to changes in the way the principles of public administration law are
applied in an EU Member State.
Another source of administrative approximation is the constant contact between officials of the Member
States and between them and those of the European Community. These intergovernmental relations, which are
mainly relations between peoples, contribute to building a common vision on how to implement European Union
policies at national level, and to a beneficial exchange of positive initiatives to achieve the results of these policies.
This leads us to a so-called Europeanization of public administration law, seen as a remarkable element of
the recent development of the legislative sector. All this demonstrates the need for a European administrative
space, which generally covers basic institutional arrangements, processes, common administrative standards and
public service values. Problems between member states due to differences between states are fundamental reasons
why institutionalization has been given such high priority in the process of enlargement to Central and Eastern
Europe. The participating and candidate countries have been forced and need to develop their administrations to
the level of confidence necessary for the European administrative space and to apply an acceptable number of
structural administrative principles, procedures and arrangements. This is the minimum standard of quality and trust
of the public administration that the candidate countries must achieve.
The notion of the European administrative space was conceived according to the model of the most
common, such as the European economic and social spaces, aspects that have long been debated during the
constitutional negotiations of the Economic Union. It also links to the vast system of legal cooperation, which
includes mutual assistance in law enforcement and some approximations in the relevant legislative fields.
It must also be taken into account that integration into the European Union is an evolving process, through
the principle of progress in the construction of the European Union. This means that a country must demonstrate
sufficient progress to be satisfactorily compared to the level of development of the Member States. For example,
the level of convergence in 1986, when
10
Portugal and Spain joined the European Union, changing in 1995, the time of the accession of Austria,
Finland and Sweden. This means that it is not enough for the candidate countries to reach the current
level of public administration in the Member States. They need to reach the future level of their
administrations. In other words, a candidate country must be able to estimate and reach the future
level of these administrations, for the moment when it will actually join. It will not be enough for a
candidate country to compare itself with the least developed Member State, but on the contrary it will
have to try to reach the most advanced of them.
The European Administrative Area is an evolving process of convergence between national
law on public administration and the administrative practices of the Member States.
It is an exclusive creation of the doctrine, the term not existing as such in the legislation, the reality
proving that it is very difficult to speak in Europe of a way or a model of European public administration.
A common administrative space, in fact, is possible when a set of legal principles, rules and
regulations, regulations are uniformly observed in a territory covered by a national constitution.
Traditionally, a territory in which public administration law has been applied is that of sovereign states.
The issue of a single public administration law for all sovereign states integrated into the European
Union has been hotly debated since the founding of the European Community.
2.2. Convergence
The European Communities, which were initially involved in the creation of a common
economic market, then evolved into the European Union, an institution that is not only driven by
economic interests but also by the desire to contribute to social and political ties between the peoples
of Europe. as the signatories of the Treaty of Rome put it.
The European Union does not assume and is not just a market for goods and services. The
four freedoms enshrined in the Treaty of Rome, the free movement of goods, services, people and
capital, mean that the public administrations of the Member States, as key elements in the
implementation and assurance of these rights, directly derived from the Treaties, must act in - a
direction leading to the effective implementation of these Treaties, from all points of view.
The Treaties of the European Community and the secondary legislation implementing them are part of
the national laws of the Member States. Public administrations and national courts are obliged to apply
these Treaties, as well as the related secondary legislation, to the same extent as they do with their
own laws.
The absence of a formal oversight body of the public administration, its procedures and its
specific institutional arrangements does not mean that the supranational European administrative law
is meaningless or completely unknown to the Member States. There is a common acquis, composed
of administrative legal principles, which we can refer to as an "unformulated acquis communautaire" in
the sense that there is no formal convention. However, it could also be a common European
administrative law.
Although each Member State has full freedom to decide how the results of the Treaties and
secondary legislation of the European Community are to be achieved, common meanings and
principles have developed within the Union. The situation is particularly visible with regard to the sector
of administrative legal principles. It is less visible in the case of administrative and organizational
arrangements, and structures, because there is great diversity in the forms and depth of decentralization
of Member States.
The legislative activity of the European institutions is a major source of common European
administrative autonomy for the Member States, their courts and citizens. This law on the autonomy of
public administration has the characteristic of being mainly sectoral. In one way or another, it affects a
wide range of areas, such as free competition in the internal market, telecommunications, the
environment, agriculture, industrial policy, science and research, customs control, and so on. The law
on the autonomy of public administration constitutes the acquis communautaire, the level of compatibility
of which with the corresponding rules is now being verified by the
11
European Commission, in the process of accession of the candidate countries.

In the accession process, regarding the compatibility of certain public administrations (Central and
Eastern Europe) and anticipating their compliance with the standards imposed by the European Union and
the alignment to the levels of public administrations of the countries already members of the European
Community. from Support for Improving Management and Governance in Central and Eastern European
Countries. The initiative supports the efforts of transition countries, supports public administration reform and,
at the same time, includes and identifies the standards that EU candidate countries must meet in order to
align their public administration structures with those of EU Member States.
The main objectives of the SIGMA program are:

1. Support beneficiary countries in trying to identify a good way of governing, in order to increase
the efficiency of the administration and to promote the adherence of civil servants to democratic values and
ethics and to the observance of specific legislation.
2. Helping to identify and train indigenous capacities at the level of the central government in the
idea that it can meet the challenges of internationalism and plans for integration into the European Union.
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As a priority, the initiative facilitates intergovernmental cooperation. This includes providing the
necessary logistical support for the creation of networks of public administration practitioners in Central and
Eastern Europe, and between them and their counterparts in other democratic countries.
2.3. Common principles applicable to public administration in European Union countries
At the level of the Member States of the European Union, the common principles applicable to public
administration create the premises of the European Administrative Area, which includes a set of common
standards of action in public administration, defined by law and reinforced by responsible practices and
mechanisms.
There is in the essence of any system of law a conception of the free man and of the civilized world,
which imposes a certain number of postulates. From this moral background of truths derive the general
principles of law.
The principles of law are the guiding ideas, the fundamental prescriptions of the content of all legal
norms. They have both a constructive and a valorizing role for the legal system, in the sense that they include
objective requirements of society, requirements with specific manifestations in the process of establishing the
law and in the process of its realization. The general principles of law are those which underlie legal institutions.
Within a single branch of law, the rules and institutions come together on the basis of common
principles, these principles, representing together with the object and method of regulation, the distinctive
features of the branch.
The common principles applicable to public administration, which concern both the organization and
management of public administration, and the relations between administrations and citizens are enshrined in
the legal systems of EU member states both in laws and in government acts and even in case law. which
resolves these disputes involving the involvement of the public administration.
With regard to European Community law, the European Court of Justice has defined a large number
of principles specific to public administration, referring to the general principles contained in the law applicable
to public administration common to the Member States and which are in the process of evolving. The European
Court of Justice has often resorted to the general principles of law of the Member States, applying them to the
benefit of Community law, from the perspective of comparative law. S
12
The principles of Community law thus identified have in turn affected the administrative law of the Member States.
Moreover, most of the general principles of law now recognized in Community law as applicable to administrative acts
have been developed by the European Court of Justice, which has the task of balancing the various legal concepts of
French, German or more recent law. , the English one, with those specific to the law of the other Member States. The
following principles are outlined in this way:
1. The principle of legality

The constant of the modern system of administrative law is currently the fundamental principle of the organization
and functioning of public administration in any democratic and rule of law state.
The need to democratize the administration and its proximity to the citizen is a European goal shared by all Member
States.
In the European administrative doctrine as an essential principle of the rule of law, which together with the
principle of separation of powers must guarantee the freedom of citizens against the abuse of power of the executive.
2. The principle of proportionality

The administrative action must be carried out in proportion to the objective pursued and, respectively, to the
legal completion, not depriving the citizens of any aspect that would facilitate the achievement of the proposed and legally
correct goal. Proportionality is closely related to reasonableness and also means that it is illegal to apply the law only
when there is an advantage, unintentionally omitted by the law.
3. The principle of transparency

It is a fundamental principle in public administration enshrined in the legislation of many states of the European
Union. The modern concept of administrative transparency determines the public administration to motivate administrative
acts, as well as to oblige civil servants to satisfy the requests for information of the public within the legal limits.
4. The principle of motivation

It requires that the authority issuing an administrative act expressly and implicitly state the elements of fact and
law which determine the solution adopted.
2.4. Specialized administrative structures in the countries of the European Union
The difficulty of analyzing these administrative structures is largely due to the extent
extremely different territories belonging to the states of the European Union.
For example, the small area of Luxembourg makes it easy to draw up an exhaustive list of public services which
are neither ministerial departments nor local authorities. In the early 1980's it was:
State public establishments (Savings House, Land Credit, Monetary Institute, Sickness and Pension
Houses, The Six Chambers of Trades, as well as the Economic and Social Council).
Public establishments of communes (Charity Offices, Communal Hospitals and

Municipal unions)
The Luxembourg National Railway Company, established in 1946 by an agreement between
Luxembourg, Belgium and France, which the High Court of Justice recognizes as a body governed by public law
In Ireland, according to an answer to a parliamentary question published in 1991, there were no less than 134
state-backed bodies, 104 of which were classified as non-commercial.
There are more than a hundred federal corporations, establishments or public law foundations in Germany and
several thousand such structures in the Landes.
In France, it is estimated that there are several thousand state-owned public establishments and those of local
authorities, if we take into account, just as an example, colleges, high schools, universities and hospitals.
13
Finally, in Italy there are an estimated 40,000 public establishments, of which 10,000 depend on the
state.
Regarding the issue of the legal categories in which these autonomous administrative bodies can be
included, it refers in doctrine to two concepts:
ÿ That of the legal personality of public law
ÿ The state of public law or private law
Local authorities, for example, have legal personality under public law.
The creation of modern state administrations in Europe, even before translating into the development
of central administrations, resulted in the emergence of State Representation Systems throughout the territory.
The more the state directly undertook a series of productive activities or services, the more the local services
of that state developed.
The territorial state administration designates the decentralized authorities of the state administration
in the administrative-territorial units, among them all the territorial extensions of the state administration,
including the prefect. France is the only country in which doctrine, law and practice distinguish in a systematized
manner between the phenomenon of deconcentration and that of decentralization.
In France, the 1992 "Charter of Confusion" established as a principle that external services are those
which exercise the operational powers of the state, while central services intervene only in a subsidiary manner
and focus mainly on the preparation, support and follow-up of issues. of politics. Also here, the boroughs do
not correspond to a territorial collectivity. In France, it is most often the department, in the sense that a large
number of external services are structured in departmental directorates, installed in the department's residence.
2.5. Organization of local public administration in European Union countries

Unlike the central public administration, competent at the level of the whole country, the local public
administration is competent only within the limits of the administrative-territorial unit in which it operates. The
local organization reflects the political regime, transposing the spirit and the institutions locally.
Thus, a liberal political regime will have as a complementary consequence its recognition
assigning freedoms to local communities. Sometimes an authoritarian political regime can tolerate, to a certain
extent, local liberties, but these are always strictly limited and almost invariably the authoritarian regimes
establish in the matter of local administration, a strict subordination.
Regardless of the nature of the political regime, the organization of the central authorities will influence
organization and functioning of local authorities.
There are close links between the central public administration and the local public administration in
the unitary states, but also delimitations, determined by the fact that the organization and functioning of the
local public administration are based on the principle of local autonomy, often having a constitutional
consecration.
Local autonomy is considered one of the most effective forms of administrative self-management,
ensuring, according to a French author, a high degree of democracy, the autonomous local authorities being
"true counterpowers", in which capacity they can prevent the abuse of central government.
As for the contemporary principles of organizing local public administration, these are fundamental
principles that dominate the whole world, and not only at the level of the European continent. Thus the principle
of decentralization and, according
federalism,toinWestern
relation doctrine,
to that of they are traditionally analyzed:
centralization
1.
2. The principle of deconcentration, as an intermediate formula
3. The principle of local autonomy
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2.5.1 The principle of decentralization

Decentralization represents the transfer of authority and responsibility from the level
central public administration to that of local public administration.
There are three models of decentralization (Bahl and Linn, 1992) that can be found in an administrative
system, depending on the degree of autonomy in decision-making and implementation at the local level.
1. Deconcentration - is a dispersion of the central government's responsibilities to its agencies

within the territorial, regional, county and local administrative units. In this case, the respective government
agencies do not have their own autonomy and attributions.
2. Delegation - refers to situations in which local governments act as agents of the central
government, performing certain well-established functions on its behalf. Local governments have autonomy only
in the process of execution and not in the decision-making process
3. Return - refers to the authorities of local governments to make decisions regarding all issues of
a local nature, as well as their execution.
Decentralization can also be an "illusion" if its financial side is not taken into account and most often it is
manifested by some negative effects at the local level, which can even lead to national instability.
The decentralization process is carried out for the benefit of the citizen by strengthening the power and
role of the local public administration in order to develop the economic and social development of the
administrative-territorial units. The principles governing the decentralization process in general and any sectoral
initiatives in particular are the following:
ÿ Subsidiarity principle
ÿ The principle of ensuring the resources corresponding to the transferred competencies
ÿ The principle of ensuring a stable and predictable decentralization process
ÿ The principle of responsibility of the local public administration authorities in relation to their
competences
ÿ The principle of equity in ensuring the access of all citizens to public services
ÿ The principle of budgetary constraint
2.5.2. The principle of local autonomy
The penetration of local autonomy in the international field is still timid in terms of regulations and,
especially, the area of geographical expansion. It did not impose itself at the universal level, but strongly only at
the regional European level.
Local autonomy is conceived in the European context as a component element of the "democratic
principles common to all the member states of the Council of Europe", which through its legal regulation and
concrete application, makes possible the decentralization of power.
Also, the local autonomy represents the right recognized to the territorial administrative units to satisfy
their own interests, as it considers opportune, with the observance of the legality, but without the intervention of
the central power. Local autonomy is the fundamental principle of the administrative-territorial organization of a
state.
Regarding the way of regulating the local autonomy in the constitutions of the main member states of
the European Union, in the Romanian doctrine, in a paper devoted entirely to this issue, a delimitation was made
between the states that have constitutions adopted before the 60s of the last century. , such as Germany, Ireland,
Denmark and those that adopted constitutions after this period, such as Spain, Portugal, Greece. Thus, if the
constitutions of the states in the first group do not expressly use the term local autonomy, instead, the
constitutions of the states in the second group, more recently, have expressly enshrined this terminology. A third
category is formed by states that do not explicitly use such terminology, but which have a domestic legislation
containing the concept of local autonomy.
There are in principle two ways of recognizing local autonomy, namely: 15

1. Unique and general legal regime, this includes those states that provide an identity of legal treatment
to local communities, using a single legal basis.
2. Exceptional and particular legal regime includes those states which, through the constitutional regime,
taking into account the historical and linguistic particularities of their constitution, attribute a certain particular system of
autonomy either to local communities, or to linguistic communities, or to certain territorial structures.
The Greek Constitution regulates the organization of the state administration on the basis of a system of
devolution, entrusting the management of local affairs to local authorities, which enjoy administrative autonomy.
Greece is a unitary state with a decentralized administration, divided into constituencies, taking into account
geographical, economic, social and transport conditions. The central administration bodies, in turn, have the right to
coordinate the activity and to control the legality of the acts of the decentralized bodies. According to an interpretative
provision, due to the most recent constitutional revision, it is the duty of the legislator as well as of the administration,
when exercising its regulatory power, to take into account the specific conditions of the island regions.
In turn, the Luxembourg Constitution recognizes communes made up of autonomous communities, established
on a territorial basis, with their own personality, their own bodies, their own patrimony and their own budget.
The Italian Constitution, after consecrating the organization of the state in regions, provinces and communes,
recognizes on the one hand the quality of the regions of autonomous bodies that have their own particular powers and
functions, and on the other hand assigns to Sardinia, Sicily, particular forms and conditions. of autonomy, in terms of
special statutes adopted by constitutional laws. The Italian Constitution creates a regional state favoring local autonomy,
based on the principle of decentralization, regulated in detail.
The French Constitution also guarantees and develops the autonomy of local authorities, speaking of their
free administration. In France, the free administration of local authorities and their status are matters in which the law
establishes the fundamental principles enshrined in the Constitution.
The term used by the Constitution to designate local autonomy is free administration.
The Belgian Constitution, with its extremely complicated federal system, establishes four language regions
and three communities, three regions, provinces and communes. Federalism and local autonomy are combined here,
in a complex way, with a laborious constitutional division of competences between structures.
With a decisive influence on the constitutions of the nineteenth century, due to the promoted liberal model, the
Belgian Constitution of 1831 was marked by insignificant changes for almost a century and a half, because since the
70's to undergo radical changes, which led towards the progressive transformation of a unitary state into a federal
state. In addition, the Belgian Constitution, in turn, has been influenced by the more recent constitutions, drawing
inspiration from them, in terms of the phenomenon of European integration and, implicitly, the definition of the place of
sources of national law, Community law or international law.
The many changes made to the original text since 1970 have led to the adoption in 1994 of a related and
renumbered Constitution. Thus, the post-war life of Belgium was marked by the linguistic dispute between the French-
speaking Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemish speakers. In 1988, Belgium became a federal state with three
autonomous regions: Flanders, Wallonia and the French-speaking enclave of Brussels, and in 1993 important
constitutional amendments were adopted, which deepened the autonomy of the federal regions, but failed to end
disputes. linguistic.
In July 2001, after intense debate, the Belgian Parliament approved new measures to extend the authority of
the three federal regions. Since 2002, responsibilities for agricultural policy, foreign trade, cooperation and development,
as well as control over provincial and communal councils, have shifted from a national to a regional authority.
The division of competence between the federal state and the federated structures is done by the Constitution,
distinguishing five categories of competence:
16
The exclusive legislative and executive competence of the federal state

i. Legislative competence common to the federal state and the communities
ii. Legislative competence common to the federal state and the regions
iii. iv. Exclusive legislative and executive competence of the Communities
v. Exclusive legislative and executive competence of the Regions
Despite the transformation of Belgium into a federal state, the communal and provincial organization
remain in the competence of the national legislator. In general, regional competences, based on legislative power
and important financial means, create a certain functional and financial dependence of local authorities on the
region.
In turn, the Anglo-Saxon system of local self-government, known as "self-government", has the following
features:
ÿ Absence of centralization
ÿ Lack of a regional direct control authority
ÿ Lack of an administrative guardianship authority (prefect)
ÿ Election of local authorities by direct or indirect vote
Therefore, when it comes to the work of local authorities in the UK, the term used is "local government",
referring to the continental equivalent of local self-government, except for the regional level in Scotland and
Northern Ireland, as the competence of local government it is strictly determined by law, and its acts are subject to
state control, both administrative and jurisdictional.
The United Kingdom, without a written constitution, leaves the "local government" to the law. Each of its
four parts: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, has its own local organization. As far as the Irish
Constitution is concerned, it does not mention local autonomy, the issue is also a matter of law. Local or territorial
authorities are recognized by the Constitution, but the Constitution does not guarantee their powers or
territorial limits, the existence and role of local authorities being recognized in a very general way.
Limited autonomy, both through the relatively small sphere of responsibilities, but especially through the
system of excessive state control, makes Ireland the most centralized local administration of all the states of the
European Union.
In Spain there are two applicable legal regimes, distinguishing between communal autonomy, governed
and administered by municipal councils, on the one hand, and the autonomous communities. Art. 143 of the
Spanish Constitution recognizes the possibility for the neighboring provinces with common historical, cultural and
economic features, island territories and provinces with historical regional entity, the possibility to govern
themselves, by constituting autonomous communities.
The 17 autonomous communities have political autonomy, insofar as their constitutive statutes have
established their organization and competences and insofar as they exercise legislative power, within the limits of
their attributions.
Regional autonomy does not have the same nature as administrative autonomy recognized to local
authorities. The legislative and administrative power belonging to the autonomous communities gives them an
"autonomy of a political nature".
The Spanish regional system is not homogeneous, the autonomous communities differing according to
their historical experiences, their cultural identities, their aspirations, as well as their level of development and
social cohesion. The extension of the provincial autonomy did not result in stopping the attacks of the separatist
organization ETA, founded in 1959, which is fighting, through terrorist actions, for the independence of the Basque
Country from Spain.
France has many local authorities located at different administrative levels. There are, even at the same
administrative level, great differences between them in terms of size, value of assets, etc. The doctrine emphasizes
that, if the administrative decentralization concerns only the relations of the state with the local territorial
collectivities, the free administration also considers the relations between the local territorial collectivities.
From the point of view of the legal technique used by the constituent legislator in the consecration
17
local autonomy is distinguished between two systems, one consisting in the simple statement of the term and another
containing the defining elements of local autonomy.
In conclusion, it is appreciated that each constitution includes a particular form of regulation of local autonomy,
related to the historical conditions of the formation of the state, its structure and form of government, the ethnic color
of the population and the traditions and aspirations of their citizens.
Local autonomy is a right, and administrative decentralization is a system that presupposes it. However, it
must not be understood, in the sense of total freedom, as the elimination of any state intervention when it proves
necessary. The autonomy that characterizes decentralization is not a uniform data, but a global concept, covering a
diversified reality.
Therefore, administrative decentralization cannot be conceived in the unitary states without

the existence of a state control, known in doctrine as administrative guardianship.
2.5.3. Administrative guardianship
Administrative guardianship is, in essence, the right of central authorities to control the activity of local
authorities invested with legal personality. Administrative guardianship represents the totality of the means through
which the central bodies supervise the observance of the legality by the territorial bodies.
There are also considerations that the notion of guardianship includes in addition to the control of the legality
of acts and guardianship over persons, consisting in the power recognized to the hierarchical authority to suspend or
revoke certain elected representatives of decentralized communities or even more the power to dissolve collegiate
bodies. .
Whether or not we use the name of administrative guardianship (suppressed in France since 1982), it is
important that it is exercised exclusively, only in cases expressly provided by law, a position unanimously accepted by
specialists.
Criticisms of classical guardianship, which enshrines guardianship of persons, guardianship of documents
and the procedure of prior approval, have led to the promotion of a modern conception of this institution, based on
three new techniques:
ÿ The technical competition given by the state services for fulfilling some attributions of the communes
ÿ Allocation of subsidies and other endowments from the state budget to local communities
ÿ The procedure of standard documents, consisting in the elaboration of standard regulations, standard
statutes by the central services and their transmission as a guide to the communes.
The entry into force of the first regulation in 1982, which was the basis of an extensive process of
decentralization in France, led, as I pointed out above, to the abandonment of the notion of administrative guardianship,
both in its classical and modern sense. . Thus, the very first chapter of that law, entitled 'Suppression of administrative
guardianship', introduced the principle that 'Acts adopted by municipal authorities shall be enforceable in full, subject
to their publication or communication'.
If we refer to the hierarchical control we will notice that the distinction between it and the administrative
guardianship consists in the fact that, while the hierarchical control represents a natural right of the superior, the
administrative guardianship cannot exist in the absence of a legal text or beyond any legal text.
In addition, while the hierarchical control is exercised in all phases of the adoption and execution of a decision
by the subordinate body, the administrative guardianship body can only verify the legality of those decisions that have
already been adopted.
The law on the character of local autonomy is bivalent, referring to an administrative as well as financial
autonomy, exercised on the basis and within the limits provided by law.
It concerns the organization, functioning, competences, attributions, as well as the management of the resources that,
18
according to the law, they belong to the commune, city or county.

The local autonomy is based on the economic sphere of its own patrimony, which the local authorities
manage as a real owner. Thus, the local public administration authorities have the right to:
ÿ own resources, which must be managed according to their attributions

ÿ manages or disposes of financial resources, as well as public or private property of communes, cities
and counties
ÿ have the right to establish and collect local taxes and fees
ÿ elaborates and approves the budgets of incomes and expenses of the communes, cities or counties
2.6. Financial autonomy of local authorities
Increasing the spending of local authorities and the issue of determining their resources is currently a
major concern of all countries. Whatever the degree of decentralization of a country, the financial relations
between the state and local authorities are multiple and complex. They reflect the conflicting nature of the
financial aspects of decentralization or regionalization.
Even if, at first sight, decentralization is accompanied by many advantages, it better takes into account the needs
of citizens, better meets the demands of local democracy, allows respect for local identities, contributes to
improving the effectiveness of public action. The financial dimension requires many nuances, in the sense that
these transfers of competencies may not be accompanied by the simultaneous and equivalent transfer of
financial resources, and in addition there may be a danger that some financially poorer communities may not be
able to provide a minimum of decentralized services.
The issue of local public finances is at the heart of current political debates as all Council of Europe
member states face the problem of harmonizing two divergent trends:
ÿ
on the one hand, the control and reduction of public spending
ÿ
on the other hand, the need to grant as much financial autonomy as possible to local authorities.
In all these states, solutions are sought to ensure a more balanced distribution of financial resources
between the different levels of administrative organization, taking into account the budgetary rigor that is required
at all levels of public administration.
As one French author put it, "Financial autonomy is the sine qua non of administrative decentralization."
In order to achieve financial autonomy, local authorities must:

ÿ have sufficient own resources to meet their responsibilities
return
ÿ to be able to freely determine their income and expenses
ÿ be subject only to a posteriori control over their financial decisions
As a result, the financial autonomy of the local community implies the creation of efficient, equitable and
correlated local public finance systems with the needs and policies of the national states.
The law on local public finances provides the following guarantees:
local public
Theadministration
administrative-territorial
authoritiesunits
can use
haveinthe
theright
exercise
to sufficient
of their financial
attributions,
resources,
on the basis
whichand
1. the
within
the limits provided by law.
2. The local public administration authorities have the competence to establish the levels of local
taxes and fees, in accordance with the law
3. The allocation of financial resources for balancing local budgets must not affect the application
of the budgetary policies of local government authorities in their area of competence.
19
4. The amounts allocated by special purpose are used by the local public administration
authorities in accordance with the legal provisions.
Effective financial autonomy implies a certain degree of control of financial flows by local
authorities. It refers to increasing the control of local authorities over financial resources, either in
terms of expenditure allocation or revenue generation.
Endowed with decentralized powers, local authorities must be able to arbitrate financial options,
but not be subject to a priori state or technical control by another authority, but only to a posteriori
control over legality. Decentralized communities must be able to decide freely on the level of their
expenditure without being overly constrained in terms of the level of resources. To this end, revenues
and expenditures must be adapted to their own requirements which do not lead to a breach of the
freedom of administration.
Fiscal decentralization focuses on the nature of intergovernmental transfers and the differences
in the revenue-generating capacity of different types of authorities.
At European level, the share of the local public sector in GDP varies between 0.8% in Malta
and 30.2% in Denmark. These differences are explained by several aspects:
ÿ the extent of local competences, which is very low in countries such as Malta and Cyprus,
being the only countries that have no competence in education or much more extensive in the Nordic
countries, countries where the share of spending on GDP is very high, due to mainly to the
competences that the local authorities have in the matter of the remuneration of the educational staff
or the management of the hospitals
ÿ Management and financing of local public services, which in countries where public service
delegations or the implementation of public-private partnerships have been used to finance projects,
has strongly influenced the level of local spending, for example in United Kingdom of Great Britain
ÿ State structure, by which we understand the federal or unitary nature of the state: thus, in
federal states, certain powers exercised in the unitary states by local authorities are exercised by the
federated states, and as a result local expenditures are less important.
2.6.1. Decentralization of expenditures for economic relations
The share of expenditures on economic actions in the state budget in total expenditures on
economic actions in the analyzed period is as follows: in Cyprus it is 100% for the whole analyzed
period, in Malta it is 100% between 1999 and 2010. These very high percentages show that decisions
on how to spend resources on economic actions are taken at the central level in both countries. As is
well known, both Malta and Cyprus are among the countries that joined the European Union in 2004
in addition to the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia.
At the level of this year, the amount of income of new entrants is lower than the EU15 average.
On the other hand, with the entry of these countries into the union, the average GDP per capita in
enlarged Europe is 10% lower than before. There have been several debates about the policies to be
followed by the new member states (Wallace and Wallace, 2000). The economies of the new Member
States have different structures, thus, unlike Poland, for example, whose economy is largely based on
agriculture, the economies of Cyprus and Malta are focused on tourism and the financial sector. Eight
of the new member states in 2004 had transition economies, two did not, and five of these economies
are small economies. Economic policies must be designed in such a way as to provide incentives for
society to make the most of them.
These countries have had to work harder to catch up with developed countries. We believe
that the process of economic convergence must be guided by investment and labor productivity,
institutional reform, structural funds and political stability. 20
The priority must be macroeconomic stability, keeping budget deficits within recommended limits
and lowering inflation.
The constant share of economic expenditure in total government spending in Greece can be
seen; Throughout the analyzed period, the share of expenditures on economic actions in total
expenditures at the level of the central budget of Greece oscillates between 93.09% and 96.91%. In
Romania, in the period 2002-2007, the expenditures on economic actions at national level have an
ascending share in total expenditures, from 85.08% in 2002 to 88.12% in 2006, decreasing to
85.64% in 2010. Italy is one of the countries with a share of economic expenditure in the state
budget in total national expenditure of just over 29%, ie 29.92% in 2000. In Lithuania there is a share
of expenditures at the state level. local with economic actions in the total expenditures with economic
actions between 11.54% in 2000 and 24.30% in 2010.
The most decentralized spending occurs in the Nordic countries, such as Denmark, Finland,
and the most centralized in Cyprus and Belgium, while Romania is between the two extremes. The
most decentralized expenditures on general public services are recorded in Hungary (99.84) and
England (50%). The level of expenditures regarding public services in Romania is at an average of
19.40% of the total expenditures in the analyzed period.
The countries with the highest share of economic expenditure in local budgets are Poland,
with an average share of these expenditures in total economic expenditure of 43%, Denmark with
an average of 41.4%, Italy with a average of 53.4%, while in Romania this share was 21.2%.
CHAPTER III
Local public finances in the countries of the European Union
3.1. Local government loans
Local authorities in the countries of the European Union have the right to borrow or guarantee
internal or external loans in the short, medium and long term, for making public investments of local
interest, as well as for refinancing local public debt or covering current expenses.
Lending by local governments is regulated differently from country to country. In some

countries, the contracting of loans by general government authorities, regardless of the type of loan,
internal or external, is not subject to any authorization / approval or prudential rules (Czech Republic,
Finland). In other countries, borrowing by local government authorities requires the authorization /
approval of central authorities, but without the observance of prudential rules established by law
(Cyprus, Ireland).
Local governments in some countries, although they do not require approval from central authorities
in contracting loans, must instead comply with the prudential rules established by law (Estonia,
Poland, Romania).
In some countries, the "golden rule" of budget balance applies, according to which "local
authorities do not have to borrow to cover current costs, but can borrow prudently to cover capital
expenditures. These countries only borrow to make investments (Belgium, Bulgaria, France). Local
authorities in other countries have the right to take out local public loans both for capital expenditures
and for refinancing public debt (Romania) or to cover current expenditures (Hungary).
The following is the framework for the regulation of loans in the countries of the European
Union, offering an image of the extraordinary revenues that are attracted by the local public
administration authorities.
21
I. Austria
Municipalities need authorization / approval from a supervisory authority (Government
land) to take out loans. Local credit institutions are often referred to.
The criteria that are considered for approving a loan are the purpose for which the loan is intended
and the income statement of the municipality. The conditions underlying the approval of local government
loans differ from one Member State of the federation to another. Usually several conditions are considered,
such as:
ÿ Revenues from loans are used only to finance extraordinary and absolutely necessary expenses
ÿ All other alternative sources of funding have been exhausted

ÿ Repaying loans does not involve a high tax burden
ÿ Other local services and obligations are not affected
II. Belgium
Municipalities and provinces may borrow, with the approval of the deliberative authorities, only to
cover investment costs. Loans are not subject to special conditions.
III. Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, local government law regulates the possibility for municipalities to borrow in national
and foreign currency to cover only the expenses.
IV. France
Local government loans can be contracted by local governments only to finance capital
expenditures.
V. Estonia
Local authorities can take out long-term loans to finance investment costs. Short-term loans can
be used to cover current expenses, but require repayment in the current year.
The contracting of long-term loans is conditioned by some prudential rules:

The outstanding debt cannot exceed 60% of the planned local budget revenues
collected this year
The annual debt service may not exceed 20% of the total budget revenue
planned.
VI. Germany
Municipalities are allowed to borrow under federal law. Loans are freely refinanced on the financial
market.
Local authorities can only borrow to finance investments and only if all other means of financing
have been exhausted. The amount of the loan must be approved by the Land.
The Land Supervisor, the Minister of the Interior, exercises strict control over the loans, as he
guarantees the solvency of the administrative-territorial units within the respective state.
Internal borrowing restrictions are strengthened by reference to the convergence criteria set out in
the Maastricht Treaty which set a maximum ceiling on government debt and deficit relative to gross
domestic product.
The general rules for borrowing to cover local public investment expenditures are:
Loans are allowed to finance investment expenditures and fall under 1.

separate budget
sourcesLocal
of income.
authorities are obliged to resort to loans only after they have exhausted 2. all other
The actual rules for determining local loan limits differ from country to country
another.
22
Loan limits are related to a 5-year financial planning process. Local authorities are required to carry
out a 5-year investment program. These plans do not have legal force, being only documents that project the
financial development of the administrative-territorial unit and the local budgetary priorities.
In Romania, the local, county councils and the General Council of Bucharest may approve the
contracting or guaranteeing of internal or external loans, for short, medium and long term, for the realization of
public investments of local interest, as well as for the refinancing of the local public debt.
The local and county councils and the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest decide, at the
proposal of the main authorizing officer, to contract or guarantee loans, with the vote of at least half plus one
of the number of councilors in office. Local government authorities may contract or guarantee loans only with
the approval of the local loan authorization commission.
After contracting and / or guaranteeing internal and / or external loans, the local public administration
authorities have the obligation to send to the Ministry of Public Finance, within 10 days from the date of entry
into force of the respective contract, copies of each primary document certifying , as the case:
1. Contracting / guaranteeing the loan

2. Additional act to the contract / loan / guarantee agreement, if changes have been made to it,
in compliance with the contractual clauses.
3. During the use and repayment of the contracted / guaranteed loan, the reporting to the Ministry
of Public Finance of the data regarding the local public debt is performed monthly, within 15 days from the end
of the reporting period.
3.1.1. Conditions for contracting or guaranteeing loans
The loans contracted by the administrative-territorial units, as well as those contracted by the economic
operators and by the public services under their subordination can be guaranteed by them through their own
revenues. Any income guarantee becomes valid from the moment the guarantee is granted. Guaranteed
revenues collected from the local budget will be subject to the terms of the respective guarantee agreement,
which will apply as a matter of priority to any claims of third parties to the local public administration authority,
whether or not these parties are aware of the agreement. warranty.
The document concluding the income guarantee agreement must be registered with the local
government authorities and the lender.
The administrative-territorial units are prohibited from accessing loans or guaranteeing any kind of
loan, if the total annual debt representing the installments due on the contracted and / or guaranteed loans,
the interests and commissions related to them, including the loan to be contracted and / or guaranteed in that
year, exceeds the limit of 30% of total own income. The above conditions also apply to annual debts arising
from loans contracted and / or guaranteed by the state for territorial administrative units.
For the purpose of calculating this limit for loans contracted and / or secured at a rate
variable interest rate will be calculated using the interest rate valid on the date of preparation of the
documentation. Loans in foreign currency will be taken into account at the exchange rate communicated by
the National Bank of Romania on the date of the calculation.
The due installments related to the loans, the interests and the commissions due by the administrative-
territorial units are provided in the local budget or, as the case may be, new loans can be contracted for the
payment of the due installments, under the conditions of the provisions of this law.
All loan or guarantee agreements entered into will be deemed to be in full
authorized and will be obligations that can be imposed on the respective local budgets.
2. 3
3.1.2. Risk fund
In order to cover the financial risks deriving from the guarantee by the administrative-territorial units of
the loans contracted by the economic operators and the public services of local subordination, the risk fund is
constituted outside the local budget. The risk fund is kept in separate accounts, opened with the territorial units
of the State Treasury, and is set up separately for local guarantees for domestic loans and, respectively, for
guarantees for loans.
external.
The risk fund consists of: the amounts collected in the form of commissions from the beneficiaries of
the guaranteed loans, the interests granted by the units of the State Treasury to the fund's availability, delay
increases at the level of the existing ones for budget revenues, applied for non-payment by the beneficiaries of
the guaranteed loans. of the commissions and, respectively, of the due rates, the interests and the afferent
commissions and, in addition, from the local budget. In case of payments from the risk fund, due to unpaid
maturities to be guaranteed, the income of the risk fund is replenished with the amounts recovered from it.
The level of the risk fee shall be determined by the chief authorizing officer and shall be approved by
the deliberative authorities. This fee applies to the amount of the secured loan.
The amounts in the risk fund at the end of the year are regularized with the local budget, within the limits of
the amounts received from this budget, and the difference is reported in the following year with the same destination.
The execution account of the risk fund is attached to the financial statements.
3.1.3. Loans from the general current account of the State Treasury
If, during the execution, there are temporary cash gaps due to the gap between the revenues and
expenditures of the local budget, they can be covered by loans granted by the Ministry of Public Finance from
the availability of the general current account of the State Treasury, only after using the fund. bearing. The total
amount of the loan that can be pledged by the local government authorities is subject to the following limits:
It will not exceed 5% of the total income estimated to be collected during the budget year in which the
loan is made, in derogation from the provisions of the general conditions for contracting or guaranteeing loans
Under the conditions of the first point, the local public administration authorities may not undertake
loans larger than the funds they can repay during the same budget year.
The repayment of the borrowed funds according to the provisions of this article will be guaranteed with
the revenues estimated to be collected in the respective budget year, under the conditions of observing the
guarantee, through revenues, of the other local public debts.
If the loan has not been repaid by 31 December, the General Directorate of
public finances are authorized to execute the account of the administrative-territorial unit in question.
Local budget revenues are an important part because they reflect resources
authorized to meet local public service requirements.
The European Charter of Local Self-Government establishes in art. 9 the principles of managing the
financial resources of the local public administration authorities:
ÿ Within the national economic policy, the local public administration authorities have
the right to own, sufficient resources which they may freely dispose of in the exercise of their powers
ÿ The financial resources of the local public administration authorities must be
proportionate to the powers provided for in the constitution or in law
24
ÿ At least part of the financial resources of the local public administration authorities must come
from the local taxes and duties whose level they have the competence to establish within the legal
limits
ÿ The sampling systems on which the resources available to local government authorities are
based must be sufficiently diversified and evolving in order to enable them to follow practically as far
as possible the actual evolution of the costs of exercising their powers.
their
ÿ The protection of administrative-territorial units with a more difficult financial situation requires
the establishment of financial equalization procedures or equivalent measures, intended to correct the
effects of the unequal distribution of potential financing resources, as well as the fiscal burdens
incumbent on them. Such procedures or measures should not restrict the freedom of choice of local
government authorities in their area of competence.
ÿ Local government authorities should be consulted in a manner
appropriate, on the ways in which the redistributed resources are allocated to them
ÿ Subsidies allocated to administrative-territorial units should, as far as possible, not be used
to finance specific projects. The allocation of grants shall be without prejudice to the fundamental
freedom of local government authorities in their area of competence.
ÿ In order to finance their investment expenditures, the public administration authorities

must have access, in accordance with the law, to the national capital market.
Example:
Austria
Local public revenues are governed by national law (Revenues Sharing Act) and
by the legislation of the Länder
A. Taxes and fees
Taxes and fees are regulated by law (Revenues Sharing act) and are collected by
to administrative structures, namely the state, the Länder and the municipalities.
Table: Own revenues from local budgets in Austria

Type of tax Legal regulation taxation
0 1 2
Communal tax Federal law Set as a percentage of
(payroll communal tax) salary
Secondary residence Land law Fixed rate

tax
Secondary residence Land law Fixed rate

tax
Tax on the use of Land law Fixed amount

public land and air space determined according to the space used
Local administration Federal law Fixed amount set

fee based on performance
Real estate tax Land law Maximum percentage
per unit value
Alcohol tax Land law Percentage on the figure of
25
business
Fun tax Land law Maximum percentage

of the registration fee
Small farm property Land law Annual per capita tax
inventory tax
Sales tax Land law Fixed rate
Notice fee The law of the coffin Percentage of

turnover
Fees for the use of Land law Maximum percentage
local facilities and of maintenance cost
facilities
Parking fee Land law Fixed amount for half
an hour
Tourist tax Land law Fixed amount per day
The basis for calculating taxes and rates is determined by the law of the Land or by the law of the federation.
Local own revenues account for more than 17% of total local public revenues, excluding loans and
revenues from the capital, Vienna.
B. Transfers of funds from the federal state budget

Transfers of funds from central authorities to local budgets account for 14% of total local
public revenues. Municipalities benefit from the following types of financial transfers:
ÿ National Shared Taxes

ÿ Compensatory Grants
ÿ General or Specific Grants
The countervailable subsidies are intended to mitigate the effects of the cancellation of certain taxes,
such as the alcohol tax and the municipal advertising tax.
General or specific subsidies represent 10% of municipal revenues, including Vienna
ensuring a balance between municipalities in terms of resources.
C. Arrangements for financial balancing of local budgets (financial regularizations)
Special funds
These arrangements provide for the amounts to be allocated to the various funds, such as
the family allowance, the environmental fund, the water management fund or the hospital financing
fund. Due to the fact that these funds are used in accordance with the needs of the administrative-
territorial units, these funds are also called financial balancing funds.
Distribution of revenues in share to local and regional public authorities
varies depending on the type of tax or fee
General unforeseen payments, for example, for disasters
The inter-municipal revenue distribution system aims to reduce the discrepancies between
the financial power of municipalities and the requirements for financing public services.
Unforeseen expenses account for 13.5% of total federal revenue.
26
3.2. Local public spending
Local public spending is the expression of the efforts of local public administration bodies to meet the
cultural, social, economic, public service development and other requirements of the inhabitants of the
administrative-territorial units under the competence of local public authorities.
According to the functional classification, in most European Union countries, expenditures are classified
by sectors, and in Romania by parts. The sectors of activity are relatively the same in all the states of the
European Union. The differences exist, they appear in terms of competencies within the sectors of activity. The
greater the competencies, the greater the amounts allocated to those sectors of activity which translate into
greater financial autonomy. Thus, the Czech Republic has a small percentage allocated to education
expenditure, as municipalities run kindergartens and primary schools, and the regions manage specialized
general secondary education. According to the main sectors of activity, there are countries in the European
Union that give more importance to some of them, as follows:
1. Education: Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Finland (27% of local budget), Italy (28%), Slovenia
(40%), Hungary (28%), Denmark (33%), Luxembourg, England (36%), Spain (31%), Sweden (31%)
2. Housing. Czech Republic (25%), Italy (22%)

3. Health: Finland (31%), Hungary (16%)
4. Culture: Italy (28%)
5. Social services: Slovenia (11%), the Netherlands (30%), Spain (30%), Sweden (30%).
According to the economic classification, the expenses are divided into operating expenses (current,
operational) from local budgets and capital expenses (investment).
Countries where the share of operating expenditure is over 80% of the local budget are: Denmark,
Sweden, England, Latvia, Lithuania (96%), Slovakia (71%), Italy and Finland. These countries have a high
share of operating costs, due to the exclusive competences regarding the remuneration of teachers, the
management of hospitals, medical care, and in Sweden even unemployment benefits.
Operating expenditure in local budgets is average in Austria (64%) and

Portugal (50% current expenditure, 47% capital expenditure, 3% to cover the deficit).
The share of operating expenses in the local budget is small in France, as it is not the responsibility of
local authorities to remunerate teachers who would have meant large sums in the budget.
Capital expenditures are high in the Netherlands and Latvia.

In some countries, the classification of expenditure is purely functional (England) or purely economic
(Slovakia). In Sweden, the choice is left to the local public administration authorities. France is in the same
situation, where the priorities in spending depend on the size of the population.
Grouping expenditures by functions and departments allows the costs of local government policies to
be identified more clearly. The presentation according to the nature of the expenses allows to understand the
orientation of the collection of resources and of the implementation policies. Their combination makes it possible
to determine how resources are distributed between areas of activity and to identify the type of resources
allocated to each Member State of the European Union.
Expenditure on the local budgets of the member states of the European Union depends on the
competences of the local public administration authorities at each level of local government.
In some countries of the European Union, spending on local budgets is more important
high in GDP, as an expression of the extension of the attributions of the local public administration.
The expenditures financed from the local budgets include the operating expenses on account of which
the current activity of providing local public services is ensured and these have a significant share in the total
expenditures.
27
Investment spending has a certain weight in local budgets due to its importance
investments for economic and socio-cultural development of the administrative-territorial units.
In the Member States of the European Union, there is a concern on the part of local government
authorities to substantiate spending on modern methods and, in particular, on programs.
3.3. Local budgets
In terms of local budgets, some states of the European Union practice the local budget process regulated
by law at national level. In other countries, the national rules only partially establish the budgetary procedures,
leaving it to the municipalities to adopt budgetary procedure measures, which determines that the methods of
preparing the budget are significantly different from one locality to another.
Local budgets express the economic relations through which money is mobilized and used at the level of
administrative-territorial units to satisfy the interests of local public authorities. Thus, local public budgets are the
main component of local public finances.
Local budgets, as the main part of local finances, reflect the requirements of financial resources necessary
for the implementation of social, cultural, economic, public services and the development of competence of public
administration authorities, as well as the procurement of financial resources during a financial year. .
The local budget reflects the document that provides for and approves revenue for each year
and the expenses of the administrative-territorial units.
Local budgets ensure the sizing of expenditures within the limits of revenues, the substantiation of
financial resources, the stimulation of local initiative, the assertion of local autonomy and the exercise of control
over the use of local funds.
The local budget is a main tool of the local public administration authorities, in order to select the financing
priorities from the economic and social development strategies of the localities. The substantiation of the priorities
and options regarding the socio-cultural, economic actions, the public services to be financed from the local
budget, as well as the necessary measures in order to collect the revenues are made in the process of elaboration
and adoption of the local budget.
The local budget is the main tool for ensuring the decision-making autonomy of local government
authorities, for efficient use of local resources and for improving the use of local funds.
CHAPTER IV
Public administration system in France
France has many local authorities located at different administrative levels. There are, even at the same
administrative level, great differences between them in terms of size, value of assets, etc.
The organization of local authorities in France is done on three levels:

- commune
-
Department
-
The region
Starting from the premise that an intense local life is the strength of free peoples, France has given
greater importance to administrative decentralization.
At the beginning of the ninth decade of this century, the French territorial authorities included:
28
ÿ 36,757 municipalities
ÿ 100 departments
ÿ 26 regions
ÿ 2 territorial communities with particular status
ÿ 4 overseas territories
The commune is the oldest form of French territorial organization, which plays a fundamental role in the
general organization of the state. The commune will become a legal territorial administrative body in 1884,
through the Law of April 5, which represents the true charter of the communes ”. "
The role of the commune will be strengthened by the decentralization law of March 2, 1982. The competences of
the communes are often old and traditional, related to the very existence of these communities.
The commune ensures the management of public services of "proximity", on behalf of the State (marital status,
organization of elections). These responsibilities are exercised differently, depending on the size of the community.
The competencies actually exercised and the level of services provided vary depending on the size of the
communes to which they refer. In fact, very often, the communal competences are partially transferred to a public
institution of inter-communal cooperation.
Traditionally, the commune is in charge of certain services: administrative police, public security, public
sanitation, urban systematization, public lighting, garbage collection, cemeteries and funerals.
In the field of education, the commune creates and establishes the establishment of elementary and secondary schools
kindergarten, it finances, builds and maintains primary and pre-elementary schools.
The commune also participates in the obligatory social assistance expenses of the department and
organizes the communal centers for social action.
The commune can conduct cultural activities (museums, libraries, music schools and municipal
conservatories, archives, heritage protection).
Department: is the intermediate community between the three levels of local government. Appeared
during the revolutionary period, the autonomy of the department will be real by the adoption of the law of August
10, 1871, the true charter of the administration of the departments.
By the Law of March 2, 1982, the department is "released" from the control of representation
State, by transferring executive power to the president of the general council.
Although the department has a general competence in matters of "departmental interest", the essence
of its activity is focused on several areas. Thus, the department ensures the direct management of a certain
number of services, such as:
- Road network maintenance service
-
Health and social services. The department bears the obligation of the benefits provided by the
social assistance code, especially the medical assistance. Responsible for the institutions that receive its
beneficiaries, the department decides on the comfort conditions and sets the price per day (for the elderly,
disabled, children in need of social assistance)
-
In the field of public education, the department is responsible for the gymnasiums
-
The law on the orientation of domestic transport gives the central departments in the field of
coordination (at the departmental level) and the organization of school transport and regular road and passenger
transport services.
-
The department has maintained or acquired the management of certain public services: archives,
departmental museums, central loan libraries, firefighters, etc.
The department uses about half of its budget for intervention expenditures, in the form of transfers or
paid grants. This role is manifested in relation to the communes, the department generally participating in some
inter-community collaboration structures (joint unions). This intervention can also take the form of loan guarantees.
The region, in 1972, 21 metropolitan regions were created, to which were added
the region of Corsica and the overseas regions.
The decentralization law of 1982 gave the region the status of a local authority and a
29
transferred executive power to the chairman of the regional council. In 1986, the regional councilors were elected
for the first time by direct vote. The last born of the territorial communities, the region is the one whose
competences are the most specialized. The action of the region must be mainly economic and social.
The regional budget retains a relatively specialized intervention budget character. This intervention can
be indirect or direct:
ÿ indirect, when the queen participates in the form of subsidies to the endowment expenses made by
other communities
ÿ direct, because the region has, after decentralization, a role of economic animation, which translates
into the distribution of aid to enterprises.
The decentralization laws have entrusted to the regional community the direct management of certain
public services:
• In the field of education, the region manages high schools
She is responsible for buildings and investments:
• In the field of vocational training, it has a general competence under common law:
joint programming with the state and management of a regional vocational training fund.
Finally, the regions play an important role in planning, prior to their intervention.
They participate in the elaboration of the National Plan, they realize a Regional Plan in which the actions are
defined that the region undertakes to support. The implementation of this plan can be done through contracts
concluded with the state or with other communities.
4.1. Management of local public services
Local authorities can carry out their tasks related to the provision of public services using several
management methods, the law generally not imposing any specific legal and financial structure.
Local public authorities have at their disposal various formulas that adapt more or less well to the
services they are trying to provide. Thus, there are several ways to manage public-local services.
- Management without distinct moral personality

- Management with distinct public moral personality
- Partnership management within a private legal entity
- Management through private partners
4.2. Management without distinct moral personality
Directing is the traditional and integrated way of managing public services.

All services of an entirely administrative nature are exercised in this way: the typical case is that of civil
status. When the activities in question generate income, the community may decide to endow it with financial
autonomy. Formally, a utility is always integrated into the communal accounts, both in terms of its revenues and
expenses.
The most frequently operated services under the direction of financial autonomy are those
water distribution or garbage recovery and certain sports and cultural facilities.
The directing device allows the elected to maintain maximum control over the operation of a service.
The downside is that managing a business is often cumbersome, subject to public accounting rules.
30
4.3. Management with distinct public moral personality
Local authorities can create public institutions or, especially communes, to share certain services with
other communes.
In some cases, by law, local authorities are required to create public institutions of an administrative
nature. For example, schools and centers for social action at the commune level or gymnasiums and high schools
at the departmental and regional level.
Local authorities can also create local public institutions for the realization
public services.
Thus, public transport services, funeral homes, public offices of the social housing distribution service,
most museums, many sports facilities are managed by public institutions.
The public institution allows a better individualization of the services and the results of the activity,
maintaining the subordination to the rules of public accounting, as well as to the control of the Regional Chamber
of Accounts.
The public institution has its own budget which materializes through the existence of a relative patrimonial
autonomy.
4.4. Intercommunal cooperation structures

Commune unions
I am an old institution (1890) aiming to remedy the communal fragmentation in France.
Starting with 1959, the intercommunal unions with multiple vocation were established, a
whose peculiarity is to carry out several services of common interest and not just one.
The chairman of the trade union elected by the committee shall be the authorizing officer of the public
institution. It is subject to public accounting rules.
The union's resources consist of the results obtained from the exploitation, from the subsidies and from
the obligatory contributions of the communes. The unions proved to be particularly adapted to rural communes
for carrying out expensive works such as: water supply, school transport, garbage collection.
DISTRICTS
The district is a more integrated model than the union. At the time of incorporation, certain competencies
are compulsorily transferred to the district: the housing service and the fire help and fighting center. The other
powers are transferred by the express will of the member communes.
The interest of the district for the member communes is almost the same as that of the trade union, its
functioning being, in practice, close to that of an inter-municipal trade union with multiple vocations.
The ability to create your own resource base is an added advantage.
The urban community
The urban community is a highly integrated formula, given the importance of the competences that have
been compulsorily transferred. The communes only retain their police power and social, cultural and sports
interventions.
A part of the fiscal revenues of the communes is transferred to the urban community, which also benefits
from an increase of the state subsidies, especially of the endowment ones.
This structure did not meet the expected success of its creators, who designed it to apply to all
agglomerations of over 50,000 inhabitants. That is why the government was determined to look for new formulas
to provide for new categories of groups: the community of cities and communes to exercise particular powers
and to present a more advanced fiscal integration.
Community of cities
Destined for agglomerations with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The transferred competencies are
determined by the member communes, including the field of spatial planning and development.
economic. In addition, city communities must opt for at least one of the competencies
31
next:
- protection and enhancement of the environment
- housing policy
- road network
- cultural, sports and school facilities
From a financial point of view, the communities of cities have the peculiarity of receiving, instead of the
localities, the full professional tax.
Community of communes
It is not subject to such a demographic threshold as the community of cities. The same competencies
are transferred to them as to city communities. The fiscal integration of commune communities is less
pronounced than that of city communities. Only if he opts for the single business tax regime does he benefit
from additional taxation to the four taxes levied by the member communities.
4.5. Partnership management within a private legal entity
In association with the private sector, greater flexibility in the management of established structures is
allowed.
Local authorities may set up mixed economy companies for any activity of general interest within the
powers conferred on them by law provided that they respect the freedom of trade and industry.
The mixed economy company is the privileged instrument of systematization and construction
operations. This type of society allows local authorities to maintain control over activities whose political
importance is obvious, but which requires technical expertise that they cannot have.
Local authorities are most often surrounded by financial institutions or partners who have technical
experience in the field of community of the future mixed economy company.
Being joint stock companies, mixed economy companies operate according to the rules of
private accounting.
The financial relations of the local community with the society can be of two types:
- a limited shareholding when the joint venture is a concessionaire, in
particularly in construction operations
- Wider participation if the joint venture company is a proxy and, acting as the person in charge
of the work, delegate of the community. In this case, the community provides mixed-economy companies and
capital and takes over the repayments of contracted loans. Instead, the work is handed over to him when it is
finished.
The mixed economy company is subject to the control of the regional chamber of accounts.
The law of July 7, 1983 provides for an obligation to transmit certain documents of the prefect's
company, which may notify the regional chamber of accounts if the rules of public finances appear to be violated.
4.6. Management through private partners
Local authorities may choose to entrust the operation of certain public services to private individuals.
This very old practice presupposes the existence of a contractual relationship between the one who receives
the exploitation of the public service and the community. The operation is similar to a public service concession.
The operator is remunerated by a fee charged to the beneficiaries. In some cases, such as public
transport, endowment and even operating subsidies are
32
paid by local authorities to achieve the economic balance of society.

The contract may provide for the provision of endowments by the local authority and the remuneration of
the concessionaire. The beneficiary must comply with a pre-determined specification.
This document establishes the quality of the service that the community wants to carry out because, being a public
service, it remains politically responsible for its functioning.
In fact, local authorities are looking into this type of contract:

-
Deficit insurance: the participation of the community is determined by contract and, in principle,
no additional subsidy is due if the standards imposed on the public service have not been met.
-
The benefit of a supposedly more productive and efficient private management
-
Resources for financing the initial investment that are provided by the private person in exchange
for revenues from the subsequent operation of the public service.
CHAPTER V
Control in the European administrative area
5.1. Committee of the Regions
In addition to the main institutions of the European Union, there are a number of interinstitutional bodies
with an advisory role, which do not act as Union institutions, but in which economic, social or political actors at
regional or local level in the Member States are represented. Through them, which ultimately represents the first
pillar of
representation of the citizens, the opinion of the majority of European citizens is made known. Here we mention
the two bodies: the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions (CoR).
The Economic and Social Committee is made up of representatives of the participants in the EU's
economic and social life: farmers, workers, transporters, small business owners, the liberal professions, employers.
The Economic and Social Committee is composed of representatives of employers' organizations, wage earners
and other representatives of civil society, especially in the socio-economic, civic, professional and cultural fields.
The Committee of the Regions is made up of representatives of local or regional elected officials, holders
of an electoral mandate or who are politically accountable to an elected assembly. Both the Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions shall be consulted by the European Parliament, the Council or the
Commission in all cases provided for in the Treaties or where such institutions deem it appropriate.
The main role of the Committee of the Regions is to make local views known and
regional legislation on European Union legislation. In this regard, the Committee shall issue reports, opinions on
the Commission's proposals. The Commission, the Council and Parliament must consult the Committee of the
Regions before taking decisions in areas concerning local and regional government, such as employment, the
environment, education, public health.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, the European Commission is
required to consult local and regional authorities and their associations as early as possible in the pre-legislative
phase. The Committee of the Regions, in its capacity as spokesperson for local and regional authorities, is deeply
involved in this procedure.
After submitting a legislative proposal, the Commission should consult the Committee of the Regions
again if that proposal concerns one of the policy areas with a direct impact on local and regional authorities.
The Treaty explicitly recognizes, for the first time, the principle of local and regional self-government in
the Member States of the European Union, giving greater importance to the local and regional level in the context
of the principle of subsidiarity. What was wanted and brought new 33
The Lisbon Treaty was, on the one hand, a change in the relationship between the Committee of the Regions
and the other institutions of the European Union. Thus, the Committee has gained an increased presence at all
stages of the formulation of EU legislation, in the preparation, amendment and monitoring of legislation affecting
local and regional authorities, and on the other hand has been aimed at ensuring a deeper and more intensive
contribution to the authorities. which are closest to citizens in EU policies at all levels and the greater involvement
of the general public in the process of European integration.
The Treaty of Lisbon sets out the economic and social model of the whole process of European
integration, which mixes the free market and public intervention in order to ensure that the Union's social
objectives are achieved. Elements are included that allow the extrapolation of the European social model to the
supranational level. By constitutionalizing the values, principles and objectives of European integration, a concrete
option is made in favor of a model for organizing economic and social relations, the European social model, which
responds to the special combination: market, society, Europe's own state.
The Treaty of Lisbon represents an important step forward in equipping European regions with the tools
to defend their competences in the face of unjustified interference by national institutions. Undoubtedly, the proper
functioning of these instruments depends, to a large extent, on the existence of internal procedures at Member
State level to encourage such action.
The Committee of the Regions shall periodically publish a monitoring report on the development of the
European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). By the end of 2013, a total of 43 EGTCs had been set up,
comprising around 750 national, local and regional authorities from 20 EU Member States.
How the Committee of the Regions defends local and regional interests at EU level
Actions of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) Decisions of the European Parliament (EP),
Council and European Commission (EC)
1. Organizing consultations with The EC assesses local and regional policy

options and authorities prepares the legislative proposal - the pre-legislative stage
Cooperation with the EC in evaluation
2. impact
Within 8 weeks: CoR cooperates The EC adopts the legislative proposal and
needs national and regional parliaments to consult the CoR
analysis of compliance with the principle of subsidiarity,
"early warning mechanism"
1. Cooperates with associations that the EU Institutions are beginning to discuss the proposal
represents local and regional authorities, as well as the legislature.
consult with
Thethe
EPmonitoring
and the Council
network
arepartners
also required
on thetoCoR.
local and regional subsidiarity, as well as with the partners

of the subsidiarity monitoring network to integrate their
views.
2. The CoR adopts an opinion on
legislative proposal
revised opinion on substantially amended by the other EU institutions:

If a legislative
theproposal
Europeanis the
Parliament
CoR adopts
and the
a
legislative proposal Council adopt the EU legislative act.
34
The initiation of infringement proceedings before Implementation of EU law:

the Court of Justice in the case of about 70% of this is ÿ
where the adopted legislative act continues not to be
implemented by the regions and the authorities respect the principle of subsidiarity.
lockout
ÿ Regional parliaments must legislate with
and transpose EU directives themselves
The CoR monitors the implementation of EU law
5.2. THE OMBUDSMAN - Control in the European Administrative Area
Insufficiency of judicial control over the administration, mainly due to the fact that
the judge is powerless in the face of legislative loopholes or poor wording of legal texts, due to the lack of speed
and accessibility, led to the establishment of authorities in charge of controlling the administration by other means.
Their multiplication in France led to the emergence of a new qualification to name them, the term used being that
of independent administrative authorities.
This title brings together various administrative bodies created over the last decades, which move away
from ordinary advisory councils, both in their status and in their responsibilities. Their statutes, regardless of their
diversity, are all dominated by the will to assert their independence in relation to the Government and the
administrative authorities at the top of the hierarchy. In general, the tasks of independent administrative authorities
go beyond mere opinion,
be notified
theynot
include,
only by
in other
most cases,
public authorities,
a real decision
but even
- making
by private
power.individuals.
Often, these
Among
authorities
them,can
the mediator or ombudsman occupies an important place. It is a control qualified in doctrine as a mixed control.
This body draws its strength from the support of the parliament, exercises its mission in an administrative
manner, and the results of its intervention are similar to those of a judge. This is why this institution is difficult to fit
into one or another of the three traditional powers of the state.
The Ombudsman Institution is a democratic, independent institution, the implementation of which requires
time, democratic framework, culture, especially political and legal, solicitude and authorities willing to cooperate
and remove from their work any mistakes or abuses of civil rights and freedoms.
A highly regarded institution of Swedish-Finnish origin is defined as that independent and impartial
"official" who is accountable to the legislator, to whom citizens can address their complaints about the abusive
treatment of government officials or bodies.
The Ombudsman is a body of protection for citizens derived from Parliament, which has a prerogative of
control over the administration, has a wide independence and acts without excessive formalism.
The European Ombudsman is an independent and impartial body that can hold the European Union
accountable. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration in the work of EU institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies. Only the Court of Justice of the European Union, in the exercise of its jurisdictional
functions, does not fall within the competence of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman may find a case of
maladministration
35
if an institution does not respect fundamental rights, rules or principles of law or the principles of good
administration.
Maladministration includes, for example:
ÿ administrative irregularities
ÿ incorrectness
ÿ discrimination
ÿ abuse of power
ÿ lack of response
ÿ refusal to provide information and unjustified delay
Any EU citizen or resident or company, association or other body established there
in the EU can file a complaint.
The institution has three main characteristics:
1. First, the ombudsman receives complaints from individuals against the public administration and
tends to deal with those that prove to be well-founded.
2. Secondly, the ombudsman is not empowered to give instructions or to overturn a decision of the
administration, which differentiates him from a jurisdiction and therefore does not have the power to injunction
the administration.
its independence
The third from
fundamental
the executive.
element by which the ombudsman differs from an administrative court is
Sweden is the home country of this institution. The first Ombudsman, in the current crystallized form of
this institution, was appointed by the Swedish parliament in 1766. The 1809 Constitution contained provisions on
the structure, competence and obligations of the Ombudsman, establishing his choice by parliament from " of
remarkable integrity ”, the creation being the result of the historical development and political experience of the
Swedish people of that historical period. The institution arose as a result of the need for the king to exercise
control over the way in which the judiciary and public authorities in general performed their duties under the law.
In Denmark, the Ombudsman was introduced by the 1953 Constitution, and his competence extends to
all civilian and military officials of the State, ministers but not magistrates. In 1954, the position of Delegate of the
Parliament was established. Starting in 1962, he can also review certain decisions of local government officials.
conclusions
The mechanisms that ensure the assertion and evolution of the European Administrative Area have led
to the crystallization of certain standards of public administration. From this point of view, the European
Administrative Space is based more on the natural evolution of the administrative relations in the European
space, than on a prompt and certain intervention of the European institutions in the structuring and modeling of
the administrative space of the Member States. Codification, transformation into Community laws and rules, of
institutional practices and design, of other elements of public administration takes place gradually, namely based
on the evolution of relations between the participants within the European Union.
The direct relationship between the evolution of the European Union as an institution and its public
administration is highlighted. Administrative unification must be preceded by or subsequent to the institutional
and spiritual unification of the European Union. The present evolution of the European economic space is
manifested mainly through the principles underlying the public administration.
Based on the principles consolidated by the SIGMA project (Support for Improvement in Governance
and Management in Central and Eastern Europe Countries ”(confidence and predictability, openness and
transparency, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness), F. Cardona develops principles as follows:
1. The administration of public affairs through a clear and precise legislation that does not allow
equivocal interpretations.
36
2. The public administration cannot have non-contractual obligations and rights

Racial, religious, political, sexual, etc. non-discrimination.
3. Proportionality
Meeting the legitimate expectations of citizens
The right to be heard and the right to defense in administrative proceedings, as well as to
4. 5. 6. procedural correctness
7. The right to an efficient public administration, capable of effectively enforcing EU law
8. Administrative decisions must be publicly motivated
9. Supervision of public administration activity and the right to challenge decisions
administrative proceedings in court
10. Opportunity for public administration decisions and actions.
Bibliography
1. Dana Apostol Tofan, European Administrative Institutions, CH Beck Publishing House, Bucharest 2006
2. Emil Bÿlan, Local Public Finance Administration, Lumina Lex Publishing House, Bucharest
1999
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TIBISCUS UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA

EUROPEAN ADMINISTRATIVE AREA

Lect.dr.univ. Criÿan Gheorghe Benyÿ Alexandra

HEAD. Q: Getting started 5

1.1. The functioning of the supranationality of the European Union 5

1.2. Involvement of national parliaments in the European institutional activity 5

1.3. Community administration. National administrations 6

1.4. Community, states and regions 7

HEAD. II: Organization and principles 9

2.1. European administrative area 9

2.3. Common principles applied to public administration in European Union countries 11

2.4. Specialized administrative structures in the countries of the European Union 13

2.5. Organization of local public administration in European Union countries 14

2.5.1. The principle of decentralization 14

2.5.2. The principle of local autonomy 15

2.5.3. Administrative guardianship 18

2.6. Financial autonomy of local authorities 19

2.6.1. Decentralization of expenditures for economic relations 20

3.1. Local government loans 21

3.1.1. Conditions for contracting or guaranteeing loans 2. 3

3.1.2. Risk fund 24

3.2. Local public spending 27

3.3. Local budgets 27

HEAD. IV: The public administration system in France 28

4.1. Management of local public services 30

4.2. Management without distinct moral personality 30

4.3. Management with distinct public moral personality 31

4.4. Intercommunal cooperation structures 31

4.5. Partnership management within a private legal entity 32

4.6. Management through private partners 33

HEAD. V: Control in the European Administrative Area 33

5.1. Committee of the Regions (CoR) 33

5.2. Ombudsman - non-jurisdictional control in the European Administrative Area 36

1.1. The functioning of the supranationality of the European Union

1.2. Involvement of national parliaments in the European institutional activity

ÿ Respect for the principle of subsidiarity and proportionality

ÿ Involvement in political control of Europol

1.3. Community administration. National administrations

1.4. Community, states and regions

• elaboration and control of the legislation of organization of the national territory

It includes a set of common standards of action in public administration,

European Commission, in the process of accession of the candidate countries.

The main objectives of the SIGMA program are:

2.3. Common principles applicable to public administration in European Union countries

1. The principle of legality

2. The principle of proportionality

3. The principle of transparency

4. The principle of motivation

2.4. Specialized administrative structures in the countries of the European Union

Public establishments of communes (Charity Offices, Communal Hospitals and

2.5. Organization of local public administration in European Union countries

2.5.1 The principle of decentralization

1. Deconcentration - is a dispersion of the central government's responsibilities to its agencies

2.5.2. The principle of local autonomy

There are in principle two ways of recognizing local autonomy, namely: 15

The exclusive legislative and executive competence of the federal state

Therefore, administrative decentralization cannot be conceived in the unitary states without

2.5.3. Administrative guardianship

according to the law, they belong to the commune, city or county.