The Council of Europe Local Finance Benchmark (LFB) was recently piloted by the EUDEL - Association of the Basque Local Authorities, in cooperation with the Centre of Expertise. The results of the benchmarking in five Basque municipalities was presented and discussed at a special workshop, organised with the Centre of Expertise on 27 October in Bilbao.
In addition, a study visit to Bilbao on Improving financial management through Local Finance Benchmarking: a shared tool for EaP countries was organised on 28-29 October within the framework of the European Union/ Council of Europe Programmatic Co-operation Framework in the Eastern Partnership countries (PCF EaP) under its thematic Programme: "Strengthening the institutional framework for local governance”. Regional experts from the participating EaP countries were present to learn about the Spanish experience regarding the development, adaptation to the local situation and the implementation of the Local Finance Benchmarking Tool.
The Council of Europe LFB toolkit was adapted to local conditions - the Basque benchmark contains 80 criteria, focusing on five areas: principles of local finances, taxes and fees, financing capital budget, budget planning, budget implementation and supervision. The local experts with an audit background have developed an evidence based objective scoring methodology, based on three sets of criteria: relevance, justification, and scope of regulation. This scoring method can be recommended for other countries. A web based tool is being prepared – it will be used for benchmarking in the future, and it could be shared with other countries.
Local Finance Benchmarking (LFB) Workshop - 27 October 2015
- Programme
- Local Finance Benchmark: The Basque approach
- Local Finance Benchmarking (LFB) Toolkit (+ Spanish version)
- LFB Toolkit: Pilot scheme in five local councils of Bizkaia (+ Spanish version)
- LFB Toolkit: Breakdown of the appraisal (+ Spanish version)
- Photos gallery
Study Visit and Seminar on Local Finance Benchmarking (LFB) Bizkaia Region, Basque Country - 28-29 October 2015