The civil insight in Berat for the budget project with the citizens and without the Municipality

On Wednesday, the team of ALTAX experts continued their journey to talk with the citizens and the local government of Berat, to be part of the civil review for the discussion in the function of transparency and accountability of the 2024 draft budget process, presenting the findings and the work of the experts. civilians summarized in the report “Civilian overview: 2024 budget project for Berati ‘ s citizens”.

In this meeting in the city of Berat, the representatives of the Municipality were absent for the third time. This behavior that does not coincide with all the commitments of the local government to be open and cooperative in the formats required by the Code of Integrity seems to still have communication problems and a different approach than what can be conceived by the local government of Berat.

Berat as a municipality has a setback in the transparency of the public consultation process, as there is still no published document for the 2024 budget on the online site, as well as no published public consultation procedure, thus violating the code of integrity. This transparency and spirit of lack of cooperation is also seen in the case of ALTAX’s request to this municipality for information and where it did not receive any response.

Citizens’ contribution to the Municipality of Berat seems to be extremely limited and only in a few spaces for intervention and influence on the budget project. Generally, they are in the form of proposals for adding or removing projects or reducing/increasing any amount dedicated to a subsidy.

In the meantime, it would be advisable, according to our experience, to have a discussion with several sessions regarding the implementation of the approved annual budget, from which citizens hear local implementations and performance, but also about certain budget restrictions determined by

Ministry of Finance. A preliminary information, as well as especially its publication, would help the expertise to give ideas, would stimulate the debate within the citizens and would serve as a dedicated support in the dialogue of the local government with the central institutions.

In some cases, unsolicited capital investment project initiatives or projects that are not a public priority, but part of certain interest groups, have appeared. Due to the lack of information, these public discussions, even if they were made, served the purpose of formalizing investments, they needed an analysis and discussion by the civil opposition.

Based on this approach, meetings should be held much earlier than currently, to ensure that citizens could express their needs and investment proposals in their neighborhoods and areas, and this input should be reflected in the initial stages of drafting of the budget. This will encourage citizens to participate in hearings as they see a real opportunity for their ideas to be heard and to influence the distribution of public funds and regulatory powers.

In situations where the City Council and the City Hall have not yet received enough citizen views before deciding, the civil society that conveys the will of the citizens with the view of expertise can try to convince one or more members of the council, its commissions, and the leaders of to the municipality, to re-examine issues that are sensitive to the citizens.