May 2014

Regional Policy of the Czech Republic

Daniel Braundeputy minister of regional development

History of public administration & regional division of the Czech Republic 1948 a communist coup d‘etat (takeover)– abolition of public

administration and local authorities. Act 150/1948 Coll. – 9th May Constitution

Government is a supreme authority of the state power. Local authorities replaced by National Committees on the level of municipality, district and a region - (kraj)

National Committees (NC) are state administration authorities (NC were so called „elected“ bodies between 1948 – 1990)

Act 280/1948 on Regions – (Zákon o krajském zřízení), on the territory of the Czech Republic there were 13 regions and 179 districts, in 1960 reduced to 7, resp. 76, - a new territorial reform based on Act 36/1960 Coll. on territorial division.

1990 restoration of self-governance – abolition of regions without compensation = more competence to the districts. Establishing of municipalities with municipal offices

Act 367/1990 Coll. on municipal arrangement enabled the founding of municipalities

History of public administration & regional division of the Czech Republic

since 1990 - public administration was represented by the municipalities and their bodies and also by the districts as the lowest level of state administration

Perspective of EU membership - discussion on the public administration reform and regional policy issues started

– setting up a regional self-governance - rewrite competences on all levels of public service institutions - draw up an Act on budgetary rules - draw up an Act on civil service, property of the state and basic

Civil code 1996 - The Czech Republic submitted its Application for the EU

membership 1997 – European Commission issued its Opinion on the Czech

Republic

History of public administration & regional division of the Czech Republic The European Commission stated that there is - no regional self-governance - no act on Civil Service - no strategy on Public Administration Reform - no Regional development policy - regional development initiatives are implemented through

several national approaches while there is no independent regional development policy

Government Resolution of July 1998 pointed out the Public Administration Reform and Regional Policy as its priority

1997 – A Constitutional Law 347/1997 on establishing of Higher territorial self-governing units (kraje), effective as of January 2000. Set up of 14 self-governing regions including City of Prague (Prague is a municipality and a region as well)

mezzo-regional arrangement based on regions - contrary to the macro-regional based on Lands (Bohemia and Moravia- Silesia)

Public administration reform 2000 - 2002 in the Czech Republic

The objective of Public Administration reform was - improve the quality - bring it closer to the citizens Administrative division of the Czech Republic is rather a complicated one and reflects historical development of the

settlement. It is characterized by the municipal fragmentation (6251 - 2012) -

there is a large number of small municipalities with less than 500 inhabitants. They make up to 57,8% of all municipalities, but with only 7,9% of all inhabitants

From the administrative arrangement point of view the Czech Republic is divided into municipalities that represent the fundamental self-governing units, and regions that represent higher self-governing units (kraje).

Settlement in the Czech Republic – Municipalities with 500 inhabitants and more

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Vertical structure

is derived from the structure of Public Administration

8 (NUTS 2) Cohesion Regions - have no executive power (created for the purpose of the EU regional policy – economic & social cohesion/management of Structural Funds) (NUTS regions: EU Regulation 1059/2003 on the establishment of common classification of territorial units for statistics)

14 Self-governing regions (NUTS 3) 77 Districts – LAU 1 (since 2003 for statistical purposes only) 206 municipalities with extended powers (ORP-MEP) 394 municipalities with authorized municipal office (ORP-AMO) 26 corporate cities (cities with population over 50.000)

6 251 municipalities (LAU 2) (2012)

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8 Cohesion Regions (NUTS 2) NUTS regions were negotiated with the European Commission and Eurostat and then established following the Government Decision 707/1998.

Self-governing regions and administrative areas of municipalities with extended powers

Public Administration reform Territorial self-governing units are territorial associations that are

entitled to self-government. According to the Constitution of Czech Republic the municipalities

and Higher regional self-governing units are managed by elected local (regional)boards and may be entrusted with execution of state administration.

There is a combined model of the state administration in the Czech Republic. In this model Higher self-governing regions (kraje) and local authorities (obce -municipalities) execute not only their own self-governing powers but also competencies delegated from the state on them. (Tasks of state administration in areas specified by a special Act).

Administrative reform defines division of competencies and responsibilities between the authorities on national, regional and local levels.

Municipalities, public administration reform and cooperation in order to improve public administration and local develpoment

municipal fragmentation in the Czech Republic is being seen as an obstacle to better governance and local development

6251 municipalities – the smallest one Vysoká Lhota in South Bohemian region population 18 (2012), Prague population 1 246 780 (2012)

a great degree of municipal freedom is not always accompanied by measures based on the principle of functional areas around one or two small to medium sized towns

Complex functional size of the town is a share of - number of inhabitants living in the town (residential function) - number of job opportunities the town offers (employment) - range of services available (service function)

service delivery is now organized with 206 municipalities with (ORP- MEP municipalities with extended powers also called small districts) holding delegated state powers that they exercise for wider area

REGIONAL STRUCTURE: Self-governing regions (NUTS III)are responsible for regional development policy & economic andsocial development on their territory; they have own budgets they co-ordinate development of the regions arrange production, implementation and monitoring of the region‘s

development programmes evaluate intraregional disparities participate in the process of allocation of public funding to support regional

development they provide support and loans to municipalities and other legal entities such

as micro- regions and co-ordinate their development objectivesMunicipalities (LAU 2) Coordinate of their own territorial development based on

the spatial plans, and development strategies

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STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS for local and regional development

REGIONAL POLICY VS SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Spatial Development Policy of the Czech Republic - 2008

Act 183/2006 Coll. on town and country planning

⇩Principles of Spatial DevelopmentSelf-governing regions (NUTS III)

⇩Regulatory plans

(municipality –Lau 2)

Regional Development Strategyof the Czech Republic -2006

Act 248/2000 Coll., on support to regional development

⇩Regional Development Programme

NUTS III

⇩ Development programmes of

municipalities and integrated urban development plans

Cooperation in order to improve public administration and local development

Local Action Groups (LAG) so called „Leader regions“ is another form of micro-regions, generating bottom up from 2004 when the Czech Republic joined the EU.

They represent another form of leader micro-regions as a continuous territorial unit with 10 000 – 100 000 inhabitants and population density not exceeding 120inhabitants/km2

there are more than 150 such regions now. Leader is an important form of grouping of municipalities in order

to support development of the rural regions LAG must have legal identity in the Czech Republic and must have

a development strategy in accordance with LEADER programmes.

Territorial typology of the Czech Republic: peripheral;stabilized; developed urbanized areas

Territorial Typology

Regional potential and factors of regional competitiveness are generally concentrated (in deferent intensity) into areas with high population density- poles of growth. From point of view of synergy ofabove named factors it definesthree types of areas:

I. 1. Prague metropolitan area and its surroundings of the

Central Bohemia region, metropolitan areas of Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň

2. Urban agglomerations - represented by regional/corporate towns and their surroundings – 100 – 300 thousand inhabitants

3. Regional centers and their surroundings areas with 25 – 100 thousand inhabitants

II:stabilized areas – areas outside of agglomerations and regional centres, areas which from the long term perspective show no negative socio-economic characteristics (unemployment, depopulation (out-migration), environmental burdens, amenities)

III:peripheral areas – geographically remote areas with long-term accumulation of problems (border areas, mountain areas, inner peripheries, or areas with specific issues

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DISPARITIES at the NATIONAL LEVEL Consequences of transformation

Significant decline in production & employment in heavy industries (Moravia-Silesia, North West cohesion regions) - economically strong regions (mining, heavy industry) grew more slowly than some regions with lower economic performance

Downfall of the textile, electrotechnical, clothing and footwear industries (North East, Central Moravia, South East)

A marked decline of employment in agriculture (South East and Central Moravia cohesion regions) - more serious problem than economic performance: regional disparities in unemployment

Other factors Tertiary sector concentrated predominantly in larger towns and and

agglomerations Inadequate development of SME´s, regional differences in innovative

potential Low inter-regional mobility of labour force Unsatisfactory situation of environment in some regions Quality of human resources and local governments Geographical position of the regions with respect to the EU and to the

transport corridors

Regional disparities among regions are significant In terms of unemployment rate and economic development dynamics Increasing and significant regional disparities inside individual regions Tendencies for creating poles of growth (in economic centres)

Forming regional centres rather than regional axes Weak and problem areas coming up – “inner peripheries” („second-rate“

economic areas inside well prospering regions, mainly along regional borders)

A successful (favorable) regional development of metropolitan areas can conceal some problems in specific areas at lower level (when assessing regional level)

Regions with state aid Economic weak regions and regions with high unemployment rate lag

behind regional average (as to economic development)

REGIONAL DISPARITIES

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To promote economic growth the following strategies and policies at the national level have been adopted

Regional Development Strategy 2014 -2020 - the basic document of the Czech regional policy – integrates sector and regional approaches, and helps to fight growing territorial disparities

Partnership Agreement 2014-2020 - the basic document of the EU member state for receiving support from the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund

National Reform Programme - reforms and measures of Member State to make progress towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (EU2020)

Rural Development Plan (2014 -2020) - development of rural areas on the base of sustainable development, improvement of environment, diversification of economic activities oriented on job creation and support to SMEs.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic