Serbia Unitary state

SERBIA  /  STRUCTURES
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Structures and competences

Local level :
174* municipalities (opstina) et cities (grad)

The municipal or city assembly (skupstina opstine or skupstina grada) is composed of councilors elected by direct universal suffrage for a four-year term. The assembly enacts municipal or city statutes, rules of procedure, development programmes, the municipal budget, urban planning and other municipal regulations. It also appoints and dismisses the mayor, the deputy mayor, the members of the municipal or city council and the president of the assembly.

The municipal or city council (opstinsko or gradsko vece) is composed of members elected by the municipal or city assembly by secret ballot for a period of four years. It monitors the work of the municipality’s administration and is chaired by the mayor. The council has a legally defined role to propose draft decisions (including draft budget proposal) to the assembly, to take decisions on appeal in relation to administrative procedures, and to assist the mayor in his work

The mayor (predsednik opstine in municipalities or gradonacelnik in cities) is the executive body of the city or municipality and is elected by the assembly for a period of four years. The mayor represents the city or municipality, chairs the city or municipal council, implements city or municipal assembly decisions, and dictates the work of the local administration. He/she proposes the deputy-mayor and the members of the city or municipal council to the assembly.

The capital city of Belgrade and 25 other local governments have city status and therefore have an additional competence: the communal police. The city of Belgrade, as a capital city, has additional competences e.g. in the field of water, fire protection, and construction.

COMPETENCES

  • Tourism
  • Public transport (including waterway line transport) and taxi services
  • Urban planning and residential buildings (shared competence with central authorities, the local governments are in charge of investment and the maintenance of buildings)
  • Primary education and primary healthcare, sport
  • Social services and protection
  • Communal services (waste, energy efficiency, water, electricity, transport, markets, parks, green public spaces, public parking, cemeteries, spatial planning)
  • Additional competences*

* 174 is the number of local units according to the Law on Territorial Organisation of the Republic of Serbia (including Kosovo-Metohija), Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 129/07.

ADDITIONAL COMPETENCES

  • Environment
  • Local and non-categorised roads and streets
  • Local economic development and tourism
  • Protection and natural disasters
  • Agricultural land, pasture land and cooperatives
  • Legal assistance to citizens
  • Local public property and construction land
  • Protection and development of culture
  • Support to people with disabilities and vulnerable groups, child protection
  • Human and minority rights
Regional level :
2 autonomous provinces (Autonomna Pokrajina Vojvodina and Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo-Metohija)

The assembly of the autonomous province of Vojvodina (skupstina autonomne pokrajine) is composed of deputies elected by direct universal suffrage and is chaired by the president, who represents the assembly at the national level and abroad. It also appoints one or more vice-presidents. This deliberative body enacts programmes relative to economic, regional and social development and adopts the provincial budget.

The provincial government of Vojvodina (pokrajinska vlada) is the province’s executive body. It is composed of a president, vicepresidents and members, responsible before the autonomous province’s assembly.

The autonomous province of Vojvodina generates its own revenue and thus provides its municipalities with the financial resources usually allocated by the national government.

Note from the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities of Serbia:

Kosovo-Metohija is an autonomous province within the Republic of Serbia and, in line with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, adopted on 10 June 1999, it is under the interim civilian and military administration of the UN. Serbia’s state policy determines that Republic of Serbia will never recognise the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo and asserts that the future status of the southern Serbian province can only be defined within the framework of adequate principles and norms of the United Nations and other international organisations, with the respect of the constitutional order of the Republic of Serbia. Given this specific situation, further data on the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija cannot be provided.

COMPETENCES

  • Spatial planning, regional development and construction of facilities
  • Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fisheries, veterinary
  • Environment
  • Water
  • Tourism, hotels and restaurants, spas and health resorts
  • Industry and handcraft
  • Road, water and railway transport maintenance
  • Social welfare
  • Health care
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Science and technology
  • Economy and privatisation
  • Mining and Energy
  • Culture
  • Human and minority rights, support to religious communities

 

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HISTORY
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