Financial Autonomy of Local Self-Governments Considering the European Charter of Local Self-Government

Abstract

The article is devoted to the Council of Europe’s European Charter of Local Self-Government as a unique international document serving as a basis on which the systems of local self-government are built all over Europe. The author aims to provide insight into the processes within the Council of Europe, which led to its adoption, to describe its character, to identify its advantages and shortcomings, and to evaluate its overall significance as a vital benchmark for measuring the degree of local self-government across the continent. The focus of this article is on the importance of the Charter from the perspective of local authorities’ financial autonomy. The author investigates how the issue of financing is generally perceived by the Charter and the related documents, while most of this study is dedicated to the individual provisions of the Charter concerning the various aspects of financial autonomy, from the general adequacy of funds to more specific issues such as the equalisation mechanisms or the right to borrow from the capital market. Using the documents issued by the Council of Europe bodies, and the opinions of scholars dealing with the topic, the author scrutinises, what kind of obligations arise from the respective provisions, also touching upon how well the ratifying states implement these obligations.