Good Local Governance

During last decades the process of European integration has led to the formulation and development of various standards and principles of good local governance and good local services provision. They have emerged in the EU treaties and accompanying documents (e.g. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union), acquis in the specific sectors, policy documents of the European Commission and other EU institutions, as well as in the acts and documents of the Council of Europe (e.g. European Charter of Self-Government). Given the political and administrative structure of the respective member state, the principles, standards and provisions have been implemented in the national legislation in various ways, filtered by the tradition of local government, the developments in the specific sectors and local governance arrangements which facilitate or impede their application.

The papers contained in this edited volume have been developed in the framework of the Cogito Hubert Curien bilateral project between two universities in France (University of Valenciennes) and Croatia (University of Zagreb), focusing on the specific services and horizontal issues application in the two countries. France and Croatia differ in many ways (size, state structure and the position of local government, and the longevity of membership to the EU). The difference between them serves a methodological tool which helps assessing the different paths and trajectories of the implementation of the European standards and provisions.

The aim of the book is to offer the description and analysis of the European standards for local governance with the focus on specific services provision (transport, water management, waste management, energy policy, environmental policy, communal services) and horizontal issues (public procurement, intermunicipal cooperation, financial management, political principles of transparency, openness and ethics) as well to structure and define general standards applicable to local government in general and to local public services in particular.

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