The Minister of Local Self-Government, Risto Penov, in an interview with MIA, indicated that the country is facing several levels of problems regarding fiscal decentralization and the fair distribution of funds, citing as examples the lower degree of decentralization than European standards, the non-use of the powers provided by law, as well as the lack of capacities in small municipalities.

He points out that, according to the numbers, the country has a lower level of decentralization than European standards, where over 10 percent of the budget, from the gross social product, takes place through the local self-government.

In our country, it is somewhere around five to five and a half percent. Now with these changes in the increase of the participation of both the VAT and the personal tax for the municipalities, we strive to reach six – six and a half by 2025, which is low, explained Minister Penov.

On the other hand, he says that we also have unused powers that the law gave to the municipalities.

Not only small municipalities but also the largest ones, insufficiently register the properties to collect property tax and insufficiently use the instruments to collect property tax. I’m not talking about the socially endangered population, but here you see in Skopje, skyscrapers are being built around us, which are expensive, where obviously the one who will buy and live can bear higher taxes for the property he will buy in those zones. The local self-government is not reaching for that instrument to capture more money, Penov added.

According to the minister, the utilities, especially in Skopje, are kept at a low level, and this enables intensive construction that disturbs the citizens, but as he says, without a problem, without endangering anyone, the municipality or the city can double, triple increase the fees and economically regulate these relations in their municipality, which cause an atmosphere of urban chaos.

And the third level is the small municipalities, which, even if they use their capacities, do not have the opportunity to survive, so additional government participation in their financing is being considered, Penov pointed out.

According to him, the results of the last population census suggest that a solution must also be found for the issue surrounding the territorial organization of the municipalities.