A delegation composed of local and regional elected representatives, experts and a member of the National Agency for Territorial Reform from Albania participated in a study visit to Latvia, organised jointly with the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments, from 24 to 26 November 2015. This visit was timely as the Albanian Parliament is discussing at present a new draft law on the organisation and functioning of local governance. The visit included presentations on the structure of the Latvian national association and its role in advocacy and in budgetary negotiations which provided the Albanian delegation with concrete examples of how the processes related to consultation among local government units and with the national authorities could be enhanced in Albania.
Members of the delegation were welcomed by Andris Jaunsleinis, Chairman of the Association and also Head of the Latvian Delegation to the Congress (Latvia, GILD-ILDG) and met with members of the association as well as with the representatives of the Government and Parliament of Latvia. They were particularly impressed by the high involvement of the Association in all national decisions affecting local authorities and by the negotiation and signature of a yearly Memorandum of Understanding which fixes the amount of the subsidies and earmarked grants allocated to municipalities. They also exchanged experiences on amalgamation and visited Jelgava municipality, located near Riga, which was formed by the merging of 13 former rural municipalities (pagasts) in the Jelgava province (rajons), following the 2009 territorial reform.
The Latvian Association is also a privileged partner in discussions taking place in Parliamentary committee meetings. Whilst being the official representative of local governments by law and a strong stakeholder thanks to this representativeness as well as to its professional staff, the Association is also acting as an umbrella organisation for smaller sectorial networks, such as the network of smaller municipalities (with less than 5.000 inhabitants) which is currently being set up. “Much can be learnt from the Latvian example”, stated Majlinda Bufi, Mayor of Roskovec (Albania, NI-NR) and Member of the Congress. “Even if we cannot copy-paste the Latvian model into our country”, she noted, “the existence of one umbrella association is clearly an asset for building a strong position in relations with the national authorities”. She added that this “does not constitute an obstruction to diversity and it is certainly an inspiring example for us”.
The study visit was organised in the framework of the project “Strengthening Local Government Structures and Cooperation of Local Elected Representatives in Albania”, implemented by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, with the financial support of the Government of Switzerland.
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