EU support for efficient management of public finances in the municipalities

At a conference held today in Skopje, a project for support of public financial management in municipalities was presented. This project will provide support to local self-government units that have not or just recently met the financial criteria to enter into the second phase of fiscal decentralisation. The 12-month project aims at enhancing the competences and capacities of the target municipalities in the area of public financial management for effectively meeting the challenges of the fiscal decentralisation process.

The European Union has provided € 637,000 in order to improve the public finance management in 34 municipalities in the country.

The project will help the target municipalities to build capacity in tax administration, budget cycle management and Public Internal Financial Control, with particular focus on enhancing the capabilities of their finance sectors to monitor, control and plan the budget, and to increase the tax collection rate.

“EU funded Technical Assistance to the country has been continuously focusing on improving municipal financial management” said Erwan Fouéré, EU Special Representative and Head of the European Commission Delegation, adding that this project is part of the efforts contributing to preparing municipalities for using EU structural funds when they become available.

State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Snežana Kostadinoska Milošeska said that the Ministry was harbouring high hopes in this project and expected it to provide much needed and valuable help to the local self-government units

The project is being implemented by a consortium led by the Swedish consulting company SIPU International, part of the FCG Group, which has already been entrusted with several EU projects for supporting decentralisation in Central and Eastern Europe.

For more information about this project, please contact:

Konstantin Jovanovski
konstantin.jovanovski@ec.europa.eu
02 3248 537