Specific projects in Spain

Main activities:

  • Public Ethics Benchmarking (PEB)
  • Local Finance Benchmarking (LFB)
  • European Label of Governance’s Excellence (ELOGE) in the Basque Country

In 2014, a PEB project was implemented in co-operation with the Association of Basque local authorities (EUDEL) in the Basque region. In 2015, the Association also implemented a LFB project with five pilot municipalities. The results were presented at a special workshop in November, and the feedback from the municipalities and local experts was very positive. This experience was shared with the participants of the Programatic Cooperation Framework project who visited Bilbao on a study trip. Another very interesting outcome of the project was an LFB web application developed for the EUDEL by local experts. The English version of the application will be shared with other countries, associations, and think tanks interested in LFB, including the Eastern Partnership countries.

The EUDEL expressed its interest in continuing co-operation with the Centre, especially on the Leadership Academy Programme (LAP) and the European Label of Governance’s Excellence (ELoGE).

The Centre was also contacted by the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia, which requested assistance on PEB, in co-operation with the local government association.

LFB - Basque Country, 2014-2015

The standard toolkit was simplified producing a Basque version of the toolkit with 80 items, focusing on five areas: principles of local finances, taxes and fees, financing capital budget, budget planning, budget implementation and supervision. The LFB toolkit survey was implemented in five municipalities of the Bizkaia region: Basauri, Bilbao, Ermua, Galdakao and Getxo, The adaptation and the piloting was coordinated by a management team comprising of the experts and the representatives of the beneficiary municipalities. The participating cities received a specific report with their own scores and a summary report was delivered with the average scores.

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Back Study visit to Bilbao on Improving financial management through Local Finance Benchmarking

Study visit to Bilbao on Improving financial management through Local Finance Benchmarking

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

Study Visit and Seminar on Local Finance Benchmarking (LFB) Bizkaia Region, Basque Country - 28-29 October 2015

Bilbao, Spain 27-29 October 2015
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LFB in spain - 2013

The first analysis at the piloting stage took place in three cities with different characteristics: Galdakao - municipality located in the metropolitan area of Bilbao with nearly of 30,000 inhabitants, Santander - the maritime capital city of Cantabria and has 177,123 inhabitants, and Valladolid - the regional capital of Castile and Leon, an inner city with 309,714 inhabitants. One important conclusion after performing the LFB is that the recommendations arising from the report are to be agreed with each municipality, thus establishing tangible and achievable goals for improvements. A formal presentation of the results of the LFB to the municipal officials and the Mayor will ensure the commitment for the implementation of LFB recommendations. 

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