Speech for FOL Hapur

Dear Ms. Demolli – Nimani,

Dstinguished media representatives,

Distinguished guests.

Allow me to first thank you for the invitation, for me and the ministry I lead, my presence today in this format of discussion is of great honor and value. Let me begin my speech that the commitment and priority that the MLGA has and will have, under my leadership, is cooperation with civil society. It is extremely important that in addition to the institutional overview we also have the critical and analytical perspective from civil society organizations for the development and advancement of local Government in the Republic of Kosovo.

The Ministry of Local Government Administration – MLGA has prepared the draft of the Government strategic and operational plan for the years 2021-2025. In this plan for this period of time, it is foreseen to be achieved, among other things, four strategic goals for the advancement of local Government in the Republic of Kosovo. This plan is based on scanning the current situation and as a derivative of a comprehensive process within the ministry.

The main priority of the MLGA is to support municipalities in managing and fighting the pandemic COVID – 19. For this, we are concluding procedures together with the Ministry of Health to allocate an emergency fund especially for the supply of municipalities with drugs from the essential list.

We have prepared and planned strategic goals that require immediate intervention within the first 100 days of this Government. The first intervention should be made in the reform of the legal framework for local Government through the amendment and drafting of a new legal framework related to the administration of local Government. During this 100 days, we will be able to complete and amend two basic laws for local Government, that of Local Self-Government (LAW NO. 03 / L-040) and the law on Local Government Finance (LAW NO. 03 / L-049). While we will complete the Concept Documents for the two new laws, namely the Law on the Fourth Government Grant and the Law on the Municipal Performance Grant.

The COVID 19 pandemic has also affected the local level, respectively at two levels, the public and the private. In the public sector, the impact has been on limiting the opportunity for public investment, on the limited provision of public and administrative services, the inability of municipalities to undertake public procurement procedures, the cancellation of meetings of municipal collective bodies, and the cancellation of public consultations. While, in the private sector, the most affected are the construction sector, hospitality, gastronomy, textile and most services. In order to have an accurate picture of the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic at the local level, MLGA has planned to conduct a study in each municipality respectively in the 38 municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo to identify and address each problem that the pandemic has caused. Thus, this will be a public policy orienting document regarding the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic at the local level in the Republic of Kosovo. The identified problems will be addressed through the development and implementation of Municipal Emergency Economic Recovery Plans. For this, the MLGA will organize a conference of local and foreign donors and investors to assist municipalities in implementing those plans. The methodology will be based on RAR – Rapid Assessment and Response techniques. For this, the MLGA will organize a Conference of local and foreign donors and investors to assist municipalities in implementing those plans. The methodology will be based on RAR – Rapid Assessment and Response techniques. For this, the MLGA will organize a Conference of local and foreign donors and investors to assist municipalities in implementing those plans. The methodology will be based on RAR – Rapid Assessment and Response techniques.

Open, efficient and accountable governance will be the priority of the 100 days of MLGA. This Ministry has planned to achieve this by starting the membership procedures in the international organization Open Government Partnership – OGP. Kosovo’s membership in this international mechanism for open government is not an aim in intself because the real goal is to draft and implement the National Plan for Open Government 2022-2024. To this end, based on the practices and procedures of the OGP, the MLGA in close coordination with other departments of the Government of Kosovo will establish a National Membership Committee which committee will be chaired by the MLGA (respectively the Government of Kosovo) and co-chaired by Civil Society Organizations in Kosovo. This committee will be composed of public institutions, non-governmental organizations, representatives of the business sector and other relevant domestic and foreign actors in the Republic of Kosovo. So, during 2021, the criteria for membership in the OGP will be evaluated, the establishment and functioning of the National Committee for Membership, the drafting of the plan and the government decision for its implementation.

Also the priority of the first 100 days will be the beginning of the work in the development of the national platform for local government E-MUNICIPALITIES. This platform will achieve the increase of the efficiency of the municipal public services through the digitalization of the services and the increase of the transparency and accountability of the legislature and the executive at the local level.

In the framework of the government strategic and operational plan for the years 2021-2025, MLGA is also focused on sustainable and long-term municipal development. We will achieve this through the design and implementation of the National Program for Local Economic Development 2022 – 2029. Such a document would be in line with the European integration agenda by incorporating and adopting the EU Regional Development Strategy where one third of the total EU budget goes to investments for the implementation of this strategy. Last but not least, it helps to harmonize development policies from the central to the local level through the centralization of policies through the IVth Government Grant. The whole 8-year process should be done in full coordination among the MLGA, the Office of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister for Development and Integration, line ministries, all municipalities and local and international institutions and organizations.

The amending and supplementing of the legal framework for local government also changes the structure in the functioning of municipalities. In this change, we will focus on establishing and advancing human rights mechanisms and communities at the local level. For this, the law on Local Self-Government will provide for the merging of many offices linked in the Municipal Directorate for Human and Community Rights. With this, in addition to making this directorate operational, we will also address the ongoing EU recommendations for the local level in the Annual Progress Reports for the Republic of Kosovo.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this plan is based on a preliminary assessment of the current situation. Two serious interventions are needed to build human capacity for the advancement of local government. One is related to the advancement of the European integration process where we as MLGA will not allow the local level to be an obstacle in this process. For this and given the current level of human capacity dealing with integrations at the municipal level, we have foreseen the provision of scholarships under the Young Cell Scheme for 2022. Education and systematization in the Municipal Offices for Integration of 38 educated officials within this scheme for European integration. While within the MLGA, the sector for programming, monitoring, contracting and project evaluation will be strengthened through the establishment of the Department for Programming, monitoring, contracting and project evaluation within MLGA.

MLGA will continue to allocate grants for socio-economic services and in cooperation with foreign donors award performance grants and grants through the EU IPA program for cross-border cooperation. Also, as regards the private sector, in cooperation with the World Bank will continue to empower young entrepreneurs through the allocation of grants to small and medium-sized enterprises. Through this program, 4000 grants for the period 2022-2025 are foreseen to be allocated and the support of 200 young entrepreneurs with funds, thus realizing our electoral promises