Bulgaria joined the Council of Europe in 1992 and ratified the European Charter of Local Self-Government in 1995. In its most recent monitoring report, adopted in January 2021, the Congress recognised Bulgaria’s efforts to transfer competences to the local level, increase municipal resources, and institutionalise consultation procedures.

Nonetheless, key challenges persist, including the heavy reliance of local authorities on transfers from the state budget, inadequate local tax revenues, a general shortage of resources at municipal level, and a limited degree of local financial autonomy. The Centre  delivered tailor-made expertise to Bulgarian authorities on decentralisation, municipal finances and local development issues with a view to improving fiscal decentralisation and financial management at local level.

Completed projects in Bulgaria

 Developing fiscal decentralisation and improving local financial management in Bulgaria (2022 - 2024)

The project aimed to support increasing financial autonomy of Bulgarian municipalities in line with good European practice and standards by assisting the Bulgarian authorities to:

• Improve the legal, financial, and strategic framework for fiscal decentralisation and increase the level of own revenues of municipalities;
• Develop the competences of local officials to apply relevant benchmarks and measure performance.

This project was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission.