OSCE Mission in Kosovo helps standardize municipal acts

A five-day workshop on standardization of municipal acts organized by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the Association of Kosovo Municipalities and the German Agency for International Co-operation (GIZ) concluded on 12 October 2012 in Durrës, Albania.

The workshop was attended by 27 municipal legal offices and focused on standardization of municipal statutes and municipal regulations on budgeting, education, social welfare and utility services. The concrete outcome of the workshop is a compilation of model municipal regulations that provides guidelines to the municipalities on how to develop future municipal acts.

“At the moment municipal regulations are not uniform. As a result there is no consistency in the provision of services to the public,” said Krenar Loshi, head of the OSCE Mission’s Local Governance Section.

“Standardization of municipal regulations should lead to greater public participation in budget planning and improvements in the provision of services such as pre-school as well as primary and secondary education, or water and waste management.”

The compilation of model regulation will be translated into official languages and distributed to municipalities at the beginning of 2013.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo is mandated with human rights protection and promotion, democratization and security and public safety sector development.