Publications

The subject of this report are the discretionary powers used by the municipalities for subsidizing and providing another form of financial support to citizens and legal entities in the territories of their municipalities, with an additional analysis of one of the forms of discretionary distribution of financial resources by the municipalities for sports, athletes and sports clubs. Within the framework of the report, an analysis of the legal framework that governs discretionary powers, an analysis of publicly available data from four municipalities on the funds that the municipalities spend on a discretionary basis annually, as well as an analysis of the legal acts by which these discretionary powers are exercised powers and their compliance with laws.

The methodological framework of the research was composed of several elements, namely:
• Analysis of the theoretical framework of discretionary powers and their typology;
• Analysis of the legal regulation that regulates discretionary powers in RS Macedonia;
• Analysis of the publicly available acts (programs, regulations, decisions, etc.) of four municipalities with which they exercise their discretionary powers in terms of scope, as well as in terms of their compliance with legislation and
• Analysis of the budgets and other acts in these four municipalities in relation to the total amount of financial resources that they annually spend from the municipal budgets on a discretionary basis.

This report aims to encourage the strengthening of the principle of legality in the functioning of the system as a whole and the operation of public sector institutions. Due to the identified problems of the citizens, this report aims to cause the opening of a broad public discussion about the discretionary powers of the administration, according to the specific proposals for systemic changes. Based on monitoring, data collection and analysis, this report provides specific proposals for reforming the system for regulating discretionary powers, in the direction of prevention of corrupt actions in the public sector. Such regulation of discretionary powers is necessary for the purpose of protecting the rights of citizens and the public interest of the state and strengthening the democratic character of the institutions/society.

The data and information shown in this report are based on the analysis carried out in selected institutions and do not mean that they fully reflect the situation in all institutions of a similar type in the public sector. However, the data and key findings reflect the current trends and practices in the management of institutions and provide a precise picture of the situation with the use of discretionary powers in the individual areas that were the subject of interest of this report.

The proposed guidelines for acting on discretionary powers by the administration, which are given at the end of this report, aim to establish the framework for systemic limitation of broad discretionary powers, which will enable the strengthening of citizens' legal certainty and protection against arbitrariness. of the institutions, as well as encouraging reform in the strengthening of the control mechanisms for the execution of these powers by the institutions.