INFLUENCE OF INTEREST GROUPS IN LATVIA ON CENTRALIZATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12955/pss.v2.239Keywords:
local government, Administrative territorial reform, interest groups, centralization, LatviaAbstract
Latvia has experienced four administrative-territorial reforms in 30 years. In 1989, local and regional elections were the first democratic elections in Latvia since 1934. From 1990 to 1992, self-governments were the main authority for re-establishing national independence and transforming the country from totalitarianism to democracy. The transformation process starts with wide decentralization, including substantial fiscal decentralization and substantial administrative decentralization.
The first reform was the centralization (1994) of Rīga city government (1 self-government instead of a two-tier system, with 6 district local governments and 1 city local government). The second reform abolished elections in 26 regional councils (1998) and replaced them by delegates from local governments. The third reform (2009) was abolishing regional governments and reducing the number of local governments 5 times. The fourth reform will be implemented after June 5 2021, and its content is reduction of the number of municipalities 3 times. Therefore, from 596 local and regional governments in 1990s, Latvia will only have 42 local governments.
All those reforms were directed towards centralization. Official goals of public administration reforms can differ from real intents of pressure groups, who impact ruling political parties and central government decisions. The paper aims to analyze reforms depending on pressure groups, who believe in benefits from centralization. Methods of policy analysis and grouping of statistics about administrative territories are used.
They provided research shows that real goals of all four reforms were an expression of political competition. Dominating interest groups in each case have conflicting interests. Previous reforms facilitated emigration and peripheries effect, while the positive impact on regional development is not achieved. The impact of the last reform will largely depend on the results of the next parliamentary election of 2022.
References
Augstākā Padome [Supreme Council]. (1992) Likums "Par galvaspilsētas Rīgas pašvaldību” [Law on Capital City Rīga Self-government]. Retrieved from: https://likumi.lv/ta/id/65317/redakcijas-datums/1994/01/10
Cabinet of Ministers. (2018) Declaration of the Intended Activities of the Cabinet of Ministers headed by Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš. Retrieved from: https://www.mk.gov.lv/en/media/1089/download
Central Election Commission of Latvia. https://www.cvk.lv/lv/velesanas/pasvaldibu-velesanas [Accessed 29.03.2021]
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia. (2021) On Compliance of Sub-para 35.4. of “Annex to the Law on Administrative Territories and Populated Areas “Administrative Territories, Administrative Centres thereof and the Units of Territorial Division”” with Article 1, the First Part of Article 101 of the Satversme and the Sixth Part of Article 4 and Article 5 of the European Charter of Local Self-Government.
Council of Europe. (1985, October 15) European Charter of Local Self Government. Treaty Nr.122.
Council of Europe. (2020) Fact-finding report on territorial reform in Latvia. Retrieved from: https://search.coe.int/cm/pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectId=0900001680a05b6f
European Union. (2012) Treaty of European Union. 2 Protocol On the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. Official Journal of the European Union. C 310/207, 16.12.2004
Pius XI. (1931) Quadragesimo Anno (May 15, 1931), http://www. vatican.va/content/pius-xi/ne/encyclicals/documents/hf_p_xi_enc¬19310515_quadragesimo-anno.html [Accessed: 12.04.2021.]
Pūķis, M. (2010) Pašu valdība – Latvijas pašvaldību pieredze, idejas un nākotnes redzējums. [Own Government – Latvian self-governments’experience, ideas and opportunities] Latvijas Pašvaldību savienība, pp.512, ISBN 978-9984-39-863-1
Pukis, M. (2017) Regionalization in Latvia: narrow range of competencies, but space for change. In: Report on the State of Regionalization. Assembly of European Regions. Retrieved from: https://aer.eu/regionalisation-latvia-narrow-range-competencies-space-change/
Pūķis, M., Vorončuka, I., Stariņeca, O. (2017) Public Administration Reforms in Latvia (1990-2016). In: Public Administration Reforms in Eastern European Union Member States - Post Accession Dimensions of Public Governance Convergence and Divergence (ed. Kovač, Bileišis). University of Ljubljana, Mykolas Romeris University, pp.90-138
Saeima [The Parliament of Latvia]. (1998) Administrative -Territorial Reform Law. Retrieved from: https://likumi.lv/ta/id/51528-administrativi-teritorialas-reformas-likums
Saeima. (1994) Law of Ports. Retrieved from: https://likumi.lv/ta/en/en/id/57435-law-on-ports
Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development Republic of Latvia. (2019, April) Pašvaldību rīkotās aptaujas par reformu neatbilst likumam [Self- government polls on reform do not comply with the law]. Retrieved from: https://www.varam.gov.lv/lv/jaunums/varam-pasvaldibu-rikotas-aptaujas-par-reformu-neatbilst-likumam
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Author
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The author is the copyright holder. Distribution license: CC Attribution 4.0.
