PRECONDITIONS FOR GENDER BUDGETING ON MUNICIPAL LEVEL IN BULGARIA YOVKA BANKOVA, PH.D. MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL POLICY BULGARIA GENDER BUDGETING IN PRACTICE PRAGUE, 8 TH NOVEMBER, 2007

MAIN POINTS: National legislation on gender equality and antidiscrimination Legislative basis of municipal budgets and stages for the elaboration of municipal budget Opportunities given by legislation for gender budgeting on municipal level versus limitations in practice Financing of local and state delegated activities Decentralization and programme budgeting at municipal level Conclusions

Basic legislative acts: Constitution of the republic of Bulgaria; Labour code; Social Insurance code; Family code; Penal Code; Law on Countering Trafficking in Human Beings; Law for Protection against Domestic Violence; Law on the Ombudsman; Law on Protection against Discrimination. The legal and institutional frameworks providing equal opportunities for women and men in Bulgaria are elaborated : on the grounds of EU documents and directives; according to the requirements of international agreements, signed by the Republic of Bulgaria. NATIONAL LEGISLATION ON GENDER EQUALITY AND ANTIDISCRIMINATION

Existing Bulgarian legislation in the area of gender equality is a good basis and a precondition for the implementation of gender mainstreaming and in particular for the development of gender responsive budgets. Expected adoption of the Law on equal opportunities for women and men will strengthen the framework and will collaborate to wider execution of gender equality principles in the budgeting process on local, regional and national levels.

LEGISLATIVE BASIS OF MUNICIPAL BUGETS IN BULGARIA Main legislative acts: Law on the Structure of the State Budget Law on the State Budget Law on Municipal Budgets Local Taxes And Fees Act Local Self-government and Local Administration Act Directive of the Minister of Finance on planning, implementation and reporting municipal budgets Directives on drafting middle-term budget forecasts (annually, after the Council of Ministers’ Decision on starting budget procedure) Decision of Council of Ministers on starting budget procedure for the next budget year Common characteristic: gender neutral

Municipality council Municipality council’s committees (9) Discussions on draft of the budget (December) (1) Directives on drafting midterm budget forecasts (annually, after the Council of Ministers’ Decision on starting budget procedure) - February (2) presentation of the midterm budget forecast (March – April) Local community Low levels responsible for the operations with the municipal budget Ministry of finance Bulgarian National Audit Local Office (3) instructions on the budget (June) Mayor of the municipality (4) Elaboration of the draft municipality budget (June - November) (5) discussions (September) (6) presentation of the draft budget; preparation of budgets for every three months by low levels responsible (October – November) (8) presentation of the draft budget (December) (7) meetings and discussions (November) (10) putting forward of the draft budget for discussions and adoption (up to 45 days after adoption of Law on State Budget of R Bulgaria) (11) putting forward the adopted municipal budget by the Municipality Council (MC) (up to 1 month since the adoption by MC) Process of Elaboration of Municipality Budget (stages)

OPPORTUNITIES GIVEN BY THE LEGISLATION VERSUS LIMITATIONS IN PRACTICE FOR GENDER BUDGETING ON MUNICIPAL LEVEL (1) Implementation of gender mainstreaming and Gender Budgeting on local level depends on: the initiative of mayors, mayors of mayoralties and responsible of the budget units at municipalities (Law on Municipal Budgets, Art.11, sections 1 and 4 ); the active role and willingness of the participants of the Committees to the Municipal council (Law on Municipal Budgets, Art.11, section 8 ). But very often the lack of perception for gender related issues and benefits of Gender Budgeting by municipal officials is observed in practice.

OPPORTUNITIES GIVEN BY THE LEGISLATION VERSUS LIMITATIONS IN PRACTICE FOR GENDER BUDGETING ON MUNICIPAL LEVEL (2) Local residents, NGOs and other civil associations could influence in the process of elaboration of the municipal budget: possibility for monitoring by local community (Law on Municipal Budgets,art.5); publicity principle in the elaboration and implementation of the Municipal Budget (Law on Municipal Budgets, art.11,section 1); regarding the opportunity for local community to participate in Municipal Budget planning with suggestions made in the course of consultations, meetings and public discussions (Law on Municipal Budgets: art. 11, section 6); State, public and local self-government bodies should carry out policy promoting balanced gender participation and for representative participation of persons of ethnic, religious and language minorities, in management and decision-making ( Law on Protection against Discrimination: art.38) Nevertheless, such kind of initiatives are very limited in practice. The major problem is public inaccessibility of most official documents that are the basis of municipal budgets.

The municipal draft budget have to comply with the adopted Municipal Council strategy and the Plan for the development of the municipality (Law on Municipal Budgets, Art. 11, Para 1, Point 1) Therefore, strategic documents on development of the municipalities should also be gender sensitive and those who are responsible for the elaboration of these strategies must be aware of and open to the gender issues. Legally, in the process of the implementation of the municipal budget, opportunities for restructuring of the expenditures are provided (Law on municipal budgets, Art. 26, Para 1). This could be used in order to make them much more fair for both sexes. OPPORTUNITIES GIVEN BY THE LEGISLATION VERSUS LIMITATIONS IN PRACTICE FOR GENDER BUDGETING ON MUNICIPAL LEVEL (3)

FINANCING OF LOCAL AND STATE DELEGATED ACTIVITIES (1) According to the Constitution, the municipality has an independent budget but the incomes to the Municipal Budgets and the directions of their utilization are determined on the State level. The governmental intentions in the area of tax policy are much more clear in comparison with the policy of expenditures, which is a large impediment to gender budgeting on national, local and regional levels.

Presently the local taxes are: Real Estate tax, Inheritance tax, Donation tax, Vehicle tax. The revenues of these taxes represent about 0.5% of GDP or 1/80 of the total consolidated State budget. Therefore, the tax basis is too tight and unequally distributed between municipalities Therefore, the tax basis is too tight and unequally distributed between municipalities Changes in the tax policy on local level will allow municipalities to influence the business environment on a local level and to finance important initiatives in the interest of gender equality. FINANCING OF LOCAL AND STATE DELEGATED ACTIVITIES (2)

DECENTRALIZATION AT MUNICIPAL LEVEL IN BULGARIA (1) Strengthening of the local autonomy (territorial, normative, institutional, financial, planning) is a result of the amendments of the Law on Local Self-government and Local Administration according to the provisions of European Charter on local self- government. In terms of Gender Budgeting institutional, financial and planning autonomy are the most important aspects of decentralization. Decentralization is accepted as an opportunity and a precondition for gender mainstreaming and in particular for gender budgeting. But the condition for optimal distribution of powers between central and local governments is a premise for stable and efficient management on a local level has to be respected.

Main priorities of the Decentralization Strategy for the period : Raise the capacity and responsibility of the regional administration to pursue regional policies, to implement state government policies at the regional level and to secure concurrence of national and local interests (Priority 2) development of partnership, citizens’ participation, cooperation and publicity between regional and local governments and their interactions with central administration, the private sector and business (Priority 8). Legal opportunities that could assist to the realization of priporities: an option expenditures to be restructured during the implementation of the adopted Municipal Budget is given by the legislative acts (art. 26 and art.25 of Law on Municipality Budget) freedom of municipalities in regard with taxation to be increased (art.141, sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution – to be adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria). But municipal officers’ readiness and willingness to use these opportunities to apply principles for gender responsive budgets’ is still under question. DECENTRALIZATION AT MUNICIPAL LEVEL IN BULGARIA (2)

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUNICIPALITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria could be the unit authorized to lobby for more gender sensitivity of Municipal budgets as a partner in the consultations with the Ministry of Finance in defining the priority policies and middle-term budget prognoses for municipalities. : Rights of National Association of Municipalities : to represent municipalities before the central government and international organizations; to protect the rights and defend their interests; to draft proposals for amendment in legislation on local self-governance, to hold annual consultations with the Ministry of Finance on the draft State Budget in its part, concerning municipalities.

PROGRAMME BUDGETING Programme budgeting means that every suggestion for financing of certain programme or project is accompanied by analysis, including assessment of benefits and expenses. Advantages in comparison to the so called historical way of budgeting: well-grounded expenditures; a chance to compare various programmes in order to choose the most efficient; possibility to improve or discontinue the implementation of programmes that do not achieve the set goals; greater responsibility of Programme Managers for achieving set goals; achieve greater efficiency of budget expenditures; greater transparency and accountability – by publishing the programmes and their analyses, discussion with society, stakeholders, experts and civil society.

PROGRAMME BUDGETING IN BULGARIAN PRACTICE on national level programme budgeting was launched for the first time in 2003 and at the moment it is applied by Ministries on municipal level up to 2007 pilot projects on programme budgeting are carried out only in two of the 264 municipalities in Bulgaria

CONCLUSIONS Regarding the legislation, there are preconditions for development of gender responsive budgets on municipal level, but local initiative is very law. Implementation of gender budgeting could contribute to the successful fulfillment of budget planning objectives (more efficient management of cash flows, efficient control on spending; effective distribution of resources amongst different budget units) and to respect the following principle: Financing of local and state delegated activities is implemented by municipalities according the principles of legality, efficiency and publicity and in the best interest of the local community. The processes of decentralization and the programme budgeting on the local level in Bulgaria are another precondition for the implementation of gender budgeting and possibility to meet the requirements of municipality residents – men, women and children.

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