The proposed solutions in the Draft Law on Regional Development, if adopted in the planned form, will not significantly contribute to reducing the deeply expressed regional gap and, in particular, will not prevent the extremely visible decline of the northern region, the Action for Social Justice (ASP) has assessed.
This non-governmental organization prepared comments on the Draft Law, which has been under public debate for the past 20 days.
One of the key innovations of the Draft Law concerns the introduction of an obligation for the Government to adopt an annual regional development incentive program, for which the state provides funds in the amount of one percent to two percent of the current annual budget.
"Although the legal amendments for the annual incentive program would only apply from next year, if adopted, using the example of the Budget Proposal for this year, which projects the current budget at 1,5 billion euros, the annual incentive program would amount to 15 to 30 million, which seems insufficient to significantly contribute to the development of the particularly vulnerable northern region, which is exposed to large migration processes and a serious risk of poverty," the ASP believes.
The ASP recommended that this amount be set at a higher percentage than proposed, and that the formulations "from - to" be avoided, as this leaves room for essentially the lowest amounts to be allocated in practice, which is not in the interest of reducing the regional gap in the country.
"The draft law on regional development now groups municipalities into three categories according to their level of development, so that up to 85 percent of the average development index will be a group of underdeveloped municipalities, up to 100 percent of the average will be medium developed, and over 100 percent will be developed," the statement said.
The current law defines six groups - the first up to 30 percent of the average development index, the second up to 50 percent, the third up to 75 percent (these three groups represented less developed municipalities), the fourth up to 100 percent, the fifth up to 125 percent, and the sixth over 125 percent of the average development index.
Considering that the largest number of municipalities are underdeveloped, the ASP recommended that the largest amounts of incentives be determined for municipalities with the lowest development index, which would be expressed as a percentage, as this would ensure that those who need it most receive the most, which could consequently reduce the regional gap in the country.
"The Law on Regional Development recognizes the northern, central and coastal regions, and the incentives are subsidies, interest rate subsidies on loans, soft loans, guarantees, fiscal incentives," the statement said.
Among other things, instead of a three-year period, the Draft Law recommends that development indices be determined on a two-year basis, while the regional development strategy will be adopted on a four-year basis, as opposed to seven years, as before, which are certainly more appropriate solutions, and taking into account the degree of difference in the development of individual areas in the country, it is also necessary to act strategically in shorter terms.
On the other hand, ASP pointed out that it is unclear why part of the provision that regional development policy is, among other things, based on employment incentives is being deleted, but now it is stated that this is done on the basis of "using one's own development potential".
"Recent census results have shown striking figures about the situation in the northern region of the country, which is literally collapsing and disappearing, unlike the central and southern parts of the country, where the situation is somewhat more favorable. ASP believes that such a situation can only be changed by a decisive commitment by the state, which must be translated into legal frameworks, to provide the most vulnerable local governments with the greatest financial support, which would finally move from the declarative level to the concrete field," the statement concludes.
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