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Europski upravni prostor leži na dvjema skupinama ljudskih prava. Prva promoviraju demokratsku otvorenost i participaciju građana te jačaju ulaznu legitimnost javne uprave, dok se druga odnose na dobro javno upravljanje i jačaju izlaznu legitimnost uprave. Povelja o temeljnim pravima koja je sastavni dio Lisabonskog ugovora na snazi od 2009. daje nužnu pravnu osnovu obiju skupina ljudskih prava. Rad se bavi pitanjem uloge mjesne samouprave u jačanju EU-standarda otvorenosti, participacije i dobrog upravljanja. Obrađuju se dva istraživačka pitanja: a) koja je pravna, a koja stvarna uloga mjesne samouprave u Hrvatskoj, b) može li ona doprinijeti jačanju ulazne ili izlazne legitimnosti poretka. Analiziraju se opći akti izabranih gradova o mjesnoj samoupravi te sadržaj internetskih stranica mjesnih odbora svih hrvatskih gradova. Slijedeći kategorizaciju koju su postavili Hlepas i drugi (2018.), uz nadopunu u skladu s hrvatskim okolnostima, analiziraju se uloge hrvatske mjesne samouprave. Na osnovi nalaza i odabranih komparativnih iskustava interpretira se trenutačno stanje hrvatske mjesne samouprave te se formuliraju preporuke za unaprjeđenje., The European administrative space is based on two groups of human rights. The first promotes democratic openness and citizen participation, and strengthens the input legitimacy of public administration, while the other relates to good public governance and strengthens the output legitimacy of public administration. The Charter of Fundamental Rights, which forms an integral part of the Lisbon Treaty in force since 2009, provides the necessary legal basis for both groups of human rights. The paper deals with the question of the role of sub-municipal government in strengthening the EU’s standards of openness, participation and good governance. Two research questions are analyzed: a) what is the legal and actual role of sub-municipal government in Croatia; and b) can it contribute to strengthening the input or output legitimacy of public administration? The general acts of sub-municipal government in selected cities and the contents of the websites of the sub-municipal governments of all Croatian cities are analyzed. Following the categorization by Hlepas et al. (2018), adapted to the Croatian circumstances, the role of the Croatian sub-municipal government is analyzed. Based on the findings and selected comparative insights, the current state of Croatian sub-municipal government is interpreted and recommendations for improvement are formulated.

History have endowed Croatia with historical experience of multi-ethnicity, multi-confessionalism, and multi-culturalism. This experience is a favourable condition for well-designed and friendly integration policy of migrants. However, frequent political changes, conflicts, and wars in this part of Europe indicate that previous attempts to build a society tolerant to diversity might be unsuccessful. The relatively low number of immigrants directed the integration policy mainly at the refugee population. As Croatia is a heavily centralised country, formulation and implementation of integration policy is mainly done at the central level, while local and regional self-governments have few competences.

The chapter aims to explore four important networks relevant to local state–society relations in Croatia. First, we analyse youth councils since their role is to advise and influence local representative bodies on issues of interest to the young, to empower and enhance the participation of young people in local affairs and decisions. We continue with school boards and parents’ councils as important forms of representing and promoting parents’ interests in managing schools that fall under the local scope of affairs. Then we analyse local development agencies established by local governments to support small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs and to promote the overall economic, social, and cultural development. Finally, we examine local actions groups whose main task is to develop and implement local development strategies. The autonomy, the coherence, and the relevance of each of these networks are examined.

The paper presents several main issues and theses about the interconnectedness of decentralization and European governance in a time of overall complexity and wicked governance problems

Over-politicization co-exists in the Croatian public administration with legalism, formalism and red tape. Low reform, innovation and initiative capacities are among the results of such an administrative model. Croatia has a relatively big and strong but ineffcient public administration. Internal bureaucratic resistance to modernization is observable. Foreign actors play a moderate role in administrative reform. The European Union has exerted the strongest influence on modernization on the basis of conditionality policy, insistence on the administrative capacity building, and the European Semester procedure. E-government policy, transparency, and strategic planning are the reform areas with the above-average reform results.

An economic crisis hit Croatia in the period 2008–2014, simultaneously with the EU pre-accession process, provoking various austerity measures in the public sector. The influence of the economic crisis on local service delivery in the healthcare, water, and waste sectors is analysed within the neo-institutional theoretical approach. The main Government’s austerity strategy in the three analysed sectors has aimed at efficiency through financial consolidation and institutional rearrangements. A muddling-through adaptation to environmental pressures has enabled the Croatian local governments to remain untouched by structural, territorial, or similar measures. They adapted to the new situation using the welfare needs as a barrier against any serious reform, despite an inclination towards centralization caused by the lack of capacities in the vast majority of them. It is concluded that the concept of resilient local authority opens appropriate research questions in times of crisis and wicked problems that befall local governments.

Croatia has a relatively big but ineffi cient public administration. About 293, 000 employees or about 17 % of the work force is employed by the state, according to the World Bank. Th e share of public wages in GDP in 2014 was 11.8 % (WB 2016, 43 – 44). However, more detailed data show there are about 317, 000 employees or more than 18 % of the work force employed by the state (Koprić 2017a).2 Th e percentile rank of Croatian government eff ectiveness at the Worldwide Governance Indicators in 2015 was 72, in comparison to 88 for the OECD countries (WGI 2015)

The chapter identifies an evaluation gap in the European literature on local public sector reforms and a lack of cross-sectoral comparisons of local services successfulness. It presents a common theoretical and methodological framework of studies included in this volume. There is still the north-west–south-east divide in the performance of the studies evaluating the successfulness of local service regimes and their reforms. The chapter introduces the concept and structure of this volume whose chapters deal with the evaluation of several local services regimes, the evaluation of comprehensive local service reforms in Europe, and the general issues of evaluating local services. The whole repertoire of evaluation approaches applicable to the local service delivery is briefly introduced. The explanatory function of evaluation is addressed as well as the problem of and possibilities for utilisation of evaluation-generated knowledge.

The usual purpose of evaluative studies is to serve in future governance, policy, and administrative activities. Explorative, well empirically grounded evaluations strongly embedded in social science better contribute to accumulation of policy-usable knowledge and improve the chances of evaluation-generated knowledge utilization. Consequently, this chapter offers a list of lessons derived from the other chapters comprised in this volume. Lessons have been learned about local service delivery regimes, including the conditions and organization of their provision and delivery, comprehensive local service reforms and their effects, and the evaluation of local service delivery and knowledge utilization. Practitioners may inspire themselves by the lessons collected; but a host of lessons may also be utilized by researchers working on the interface of evaluation and local service provision.

The chapter aims to evaluate decentralisation reform in Croatia in 2001–2015. The main research question considers the impacts, the effects, and the outcomes of decentralisation programmed in four policy areas: education, health, social care, and firefighting. Although some analyses of the particular sectors and aspects of decentralisation have been performed, neither a comprehensive evaluation of the whole decentralisation package nor the comparison between the four policy areas has been conducted so far. The evaluation is based on the program theory model. The research focuses on several types of information sources: legal, policy and other official documents, reports, statistics, and semi-structured interviews with the main actors of decentralisation. These have been used as a basis to determine the reform goals, expectations, main problems, and the most important effects of decentralisation policy.

U radu se opisuje stanje lokalne i mjesne samouprave u Gradu Zagrebu. Daju se prijedlozi za unapređenje upravljanja Gradom Zagrebom.

Despite several reforms, county government in Croatia remains weak but more self-government for counties is constantly debated. Against this background we analyze county elections in Croatia which appear to be highly nationalized and second-order elections. Although county elections are held on the same day as local elections turnout rates are relatively low. Party system congruence between regional and national elections is also low which could be an indication of regionalization of the vote. However, this dissimilarity is driven by vote switching between regional and national elections as a result of the second-order nature of county elections. In this chapter we suggest factors which can account for the subordinate nature of county elections and we evaluate evidence for regionalization of the vote.

Agencies are an organisational form with regulatory, expert or executive tasks that may ensure better usage of expertise compared to traditional administrative organisations. However, there are certain unintentional effects of the agency model, which are more obvious in transitional countries. Coordination and policy coherence gaps may raise the question of political accountability, provoke robust political interventions, and undermine the level of autonomy and expertise, especially where a firm legal framework does not limit the influence of politics. Another problem is the effective legal control over agencies. Traditional, bureaucratic legal procedures of internal control and courts’ supervision in certain transition countries, like those researched in the paper (Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro), are not fully suitable and effective for agencies, opening significant room for politicisation hidden behind expertise. The recent proliferation of agencies in those countries causes many new problems of public administration and enhances old ones. Interview-based research conducted in three countries in January 2012 has the purpose to establish the main problems and issues in the functioning of agencies, especially with regard to the legal aspect of agency and politics / policy relations. Basic findings confirm the hypothesis that the agency model in those countries has not been stabilised yet. Professionalism, autonomy and expertise of the agencies are in a precarious position. The legal framework for agencies should be fine-tuned and strengthened, to ensure proper steering within the agency model.

In Croatia, the 1990s were the years of centralisation. The role of local government in the provision of public services was significantly weakened. Privatisation was connected with general transformation of the former ‘social’ ownership economy into market economy. In spite of being influenced by the new public management doctrine, the European Union’s liberalisation and privatisation policy, and efforts of the private sector, the Croatian public sector is still strong and able to provide a wide array of services to its citizens. Despite privatisation in many sectors (primary healthcare, telecommunications, waste management), vivid remnants of public esprit de corps exist. Thus, the role of the private sector in the provision of local services is developing gradually. There are no signs of re-municipalisation. The division of services between the state and the local government is still a more important issue than the potential failure of the private sector in the provision of quality local public services.

The paper analyses traditional and new forms of citizen participation at the local level. The traditional forms of citizen participation are referendum, citizens’ initiative, deliberative assemblies, sub-municipal governance, and occasional consultative meetings. The main new forms are introduction of the direct election of mayors and recall referendum, strengthening the role of local mayors, and independent actors in local politics. Special attention is devoted to comparative situation with sub-municipal governments. Five modes of fostering local democracy in Croatia are analysed: minority representation, classic forms of direct democracy, direct election of mayors and recall procedure, youth councils, and independent local political actors. Data from 2014 research show that citizens’ initiative, referendum, and consultative meetings are not frequently used participatory mechanisms in Croatia. Sub-municipal governments have not been established in one third of local units, indicating their smallness and – probably – the low level of decentralization in Croatia., Analiziraju se tradicionalne i nove forme sudjelovanja građana na lokalnoj razini. Tradicionalne forme participacije su referendum, građanska inicijativa, skupština svih građana, oblici submunicipalne samouprave i konzultativni zborovi građana. Važnije nove forme su neposredno biranje načelnika, njihov opoziv, jačanje lokalnog vodstva i nezavisni lokalni politički akteri. U radu se posebno analizira mjesna samouprava u komparativnoj perspektivi. Analizira se pet načina jačanja lokalne demokracije u Hrvatskoj: predstavništvo nacionalnih manjina, klasične forme direktne demokracije, neposredni izbor i opoziv načelnika, savjeti mladih i nezavisni lokalni politički akteri. Podaci iz istraživanja provedenog 2014. pokazuju da se u Hrvatskoj građanska inicijativa, lokalni referendum i mjesni zbor ne koriste često. Oblici mjesne samouprave nisu osnovani u jednoj trećini jedinica lokalne samouprave, vjerojatno zbog toga što su same te jedinice male, a razina decentralizacije niska.

Current second-tier organization in Croatia is based on twenty counties and the City of Zagreb with the county status. The counties are relatively small and have a rather low financial capacity and developmental role. In the period 1993–2001, counties were predominantly units responsible for deconcentrated state administration, with rather narrow autonomy. That is why county elections were of third order, after national and local elections. After 2001, counties were rearranged as autonomous units without any state administrative tasks and with a widened self-government scope. County elections became second-order, subordinated to national elections, which is demonstrated in this analysis. Relatively low government congruence score between county and national governments over time confirms that government parties lose votes in county elections and opposition parties gain votes. The turnout rate shows that voters cast ballots in county elections more rarely than in national elections. The counties political arena is still dominated by national parties and their organizational branches. County elections are highly ‘nationalized’ since they reflect national political institutions, processes, and patterns of political behaviour. At the moment, a new regional concept with only five historical regions is under serious professional and political debate. In the near future, the introduction of new, genuine regional organization instead of present counties is likely. If those five new regions with broad autonomous scope of affairs are established, including regional development and strong regional policy, regional elections may become less subordinated to national elections and more oriented to specific interest of particular regions. The importance of regional elections depends mainly on the significance of the regional scope of public affairs and the financial capacity of regional units., Sadašnja organizacija druge razine lokalne samouprave u Hrvatskoj temelji se na dvadeset županija i Gradu Zagrebu, koji ima ovlasti grada i županije. Županije se relativno male i imaju slabe financijske kapacitete i nedovoljnu razvojnu ulogu. U razdoblju 1993.–2001. županije su prije svega bile odgovorne za obavljanje poslova dekoncentrirane državne uprave s vrlo uskom autonomijom. Zato su županijski izbori bili po važnosti izbori trećega reda, iza parlamentarnih i lokalnih izbora. Nakon 2001. županije su reorganizirane kao autonomne jedinice koje više ne obavljaju poslove državne uprave, a samoupravni djelokrug im je proširen. Županijski izbori postali su izbori drugog reda, kako se vidi iz analize. Relativno niski indeks podudaranja županijskih i nacionalne vlasti u vremenskoj perspektivi potvrđuje da vladine stranke gube glasove u županijskim izborima, dok oporbene stranke glasove dobivaju. Stopa izlaznosti pokazuje da glasači rjeđe izlaze na županijske nego na nacionalne izbore. Županijska politička arena je još uvijek u rukama nacionalnih političkih stranaka i njihovih županijskih ogranaka. Županijski su izbori visoko nacionalizirani jer odražavaju nacionalne političke institucije, procese i načine političkog ponašanja. Trenutno se vode ozbiljne stručne i političke rasprave o novom regionalnom konceptu s pet povijesnih regija. Postoji vjerojatnost uvođenja istinske regionalne organizacije u budućnosti, umjesto postojeće županijske organizacije. Ako bi se uspostavilo pet regija sa širokim samoupravnim djelokrugom, uključujući regionalni razvoj i snažne regionalne politike, regionalni bi izbori mogli postati manje podređeni nacionalnima i više orijentirani na posebne interese pojedinih regija. Značenje regionalnih izbora uglavnom ovisi o važnosti kruga regionalnih poslova i financijskom kapacitetu regionalnih jedinica.

Faza europeizacije hrvatske javne uprave započela je 2001. godine. Obuhvaća značajne promjene u središnjoj državnoj upravi, javnim službama (službama od općeg interesa), lokalnoj i regionalnoj samoupravi, službeničkom sustavu, upravnom obrazovanju, općem upravnom pravu te u sustavu pravne zaštite građana. U svim tim područjima razvijaju se značajni europski standardi, koji služe kao oslonac harmonizacije javnih uprava europskih zemalja. Europske standarde razvijaju Europska unija, Vijeće Europe, ali i same europske zemlje međusobnom razmjenom i učenjem. Reformama hrvatske uprave želi se ojačati upravne kapacitete, ostvarenje standarda dobrog europskog upravljanja i efektivni ulazak u zajednički europski upravni prostor. Europska je unija nametnula politiku i mehanizme kondicionalnosti te osigurala značajna financijska sredstva, projekte i stručnu potporu upravnim reformama u Hrvatskoj. Prilagodbe su u tijeku, a usprkos općenito dobrim rezultatima, ostaje značajni prostor za punu europeizaciju, u smislu postizanja odgovarajućih učinaka hrvatske javne uprave., Europeanization of the Croatian public administration formally started in 2001. This phase has encompassed important changes of the central state administration, services of general interest, local and regional self-government, civil service, administrative education and in-service training, general administrative law and system of legal protection of citizens. Reforms have been oriented towards strengthening administrative capacities, acquiring standards of good European governance, and effective entrance into common European Administrative Space. During that phase, till the Croatian accession, the European Union imposed conditionality policy and mechanisms, and ensured huge financial and expert support to the reforms. Reforms at the central level consisted of agencification, professionalisation and depoliticisation of the civil service, Europeanization of a significant part of sectoral public policies and strengthening openness and ethical standards. The purposes of reforms at the local and regional levels have been strengthening democratic legitimacy, reorientation towards economic development, and realisation of prerequisites for more efficient regional policy in line with European regional and structural policy. A new concept of services of general interest along with liberalisation, privatisation and commercialisation policy has been realised. Independent regulation of services of general economic interest and fostering better quality of non-economic services of general interest have been developed. Legal protection of citizens has been strengthened by introducing two-tier administrative justice and realisation of standards of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Council of Europe, parallel with some administrative simplification. The right to good administration, established by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, has attracted increased attention. Certain steps towards quality modern education for key administrative personnel have been made.

Krajnje je vrijeme okrenuti se modelu policentrične decentralizirane zemlje. Važnu ulogu u tome moraju odigrati regije, na koje valja decentralizirati neke od sadašnjih poslova sa središnje razine.

Analiziraju se poslovi jedinica lokalne i područne (regionalne) samouprave od uspostave novog sustava lokalne samouprave u Hrvatskoj 1993. do danas. Naglasak je na analizi ustavnog uređenja samoupravnog djelokruga, ustavnih načela obavljanja lokalnih poslova, odnosa hrvatske pravne regulacije naspram Europske povelje o lokalnoj samoupravi te na realizaciji samoupravnog djelokruga u praksi lokalnih jedinica. Problemi s lokalnim poslovima su mnogostruki i ozbiljni, a pretpostavke za početak njihova rješavanja zahtjevne. Temeljni su problemi pravni: pretjerana i nedosljedna regulacija poslova, naročito tzv. decentraliziranih funkcija, nejednaki pristupi već ovisno o zamislima pisaca zakonskih prijedloga iz različitih ministarstava, nepoznavanje ustavne koncepcije lokalne i područne (regionalne) samouprave i standarda Europske povelje, ali i slaba ustavnosudska zaštita pozicije lokalne samouprave., Local public affairs in Croatia in the period after the establishment of the new system of local self-government in 1993 have been analysed in the paper. Several issues have been taken into close consideration: constitutional regulation of local self-government scope of affairs, constitutional principles of performing local affairs, harmonisation of the Croatian legal regulation with the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and performance of local affairs in local governments’ practice. There are many complex problems with local scope and the preconditions for solving them are unfavourable. The basic problems are of legal nature – too detailed and inconclusive legal regulation, especially in the group of so-called decentralised functions (functions decentralised in the 2001 reform), unequal approaches in different sectors because of various approaches of different ministries, low level of familiarity with the constitutional concept of local self-government and with the standards from the European Charter of Local Self-Government, weak constitutional protection of local autonomy, etc. More robust decentralisation depends on the possible change of the constitutional concept of local and regional self-government and of the main roles of local and regional units. Certain proposals in that regard have been elaborated in the paper.

Several governance processes have been common to the countries in South Eastern Europe. The development administrative education emancipated from traditional legal education is but one of these processes. The slow development of quality administrative education is a result of specific combination of public administrations’ demands on one hand, and supply of universities with regard to administrative education, on the other. Demands are not consolidated because there is still strong politicisation of public administrations. Old state universities are sclerotic, while many small new universities offer rather low quality education, mostly for the private, not for the public sector.The research shows that educational preparation in the region tends to preserve the legalistic nature of the field, but certain improvements are observable. In Croatia, there is a constant development of the supply side, while the demand side is a bit underdeveloped. Overall conclusion is that there is an interconnection between the development of governance and administrative education developments., Jugoistočna Europa je regija koja dijeli određene karakteristike javnog upravljanja, zbog zajedničkih institucija u prošlosti, sadašnjeg procesa europeizacije i nekih zajedničkih kulturnih crta. Proces usvajanja europskih upravnih standarda podupire mehanizam uvjetovanosti tijekom procesa pridruživanja Europskoj uniji. Razvoj modernog upravnog obrazovanja, emancipiranog od tradicionalnog pravnog obrazovanja, jest komponenta sadašnjih procesa javnog upravljanja, ali se odvija uz dosta oklijevanja. Taj spori razvoj posljedica je specifičnosti zahtjeva javnih uprava na jednoj te sveučilišne ponude upravnog obrazovanja na drugoj strani. Zahtjevi nisu utvrđeni zbog još uvijek prisutne politizacije javnih uprava. Stara su državna sveučilišta u nekoj mjeri sklerotična, dok mnoga mala nova sveučilišta nude prilično nisku razinu obrazovanja, a i to više za privatni nego za javni sektor. Istraživanje pokazuje da obrazovna priprema za upravu u regiji tendira zaštititi pretežno pravnu prirodu područja, ali se ipak vide određena unapređenja. Početkom 2009. bilo je skoro 70 obrazovnih programa na razini visokog obrazovanja u šest zemalja na području bivše Jugoslavije, od kojih većina na razini prvog (BA) i drugog stupnja (MA). Sadržaj upravnog obrazovanja ima težište na pravu i upravnoj znanosti. Ekonomija i financije, informatika i politologija imale su manje udjele u studijskim programima. U Hrvatskoj postoji stalni razvoj ponude programa upravnog obrazovanja, ali je druga strana, strana zahtjeva za upravnim obrazovanjem donekle podrazvijena. To uglavnom znači da Vlada i drugi poslodavci u javnom sektoru ne prepoznaju studije javne uprave kao prvi i osnovni izvor javnih službenika. Ipak, tijekom zadnjih godina stalno se utemeljuju novi studiji i razvijaju postojeći studiji javne uprave. Opći je zaključak da postoji povezanost razvoja javnog upravljanja i razvoja upravnog obrazovanja.

Many countries in Western Europe consolidated their territorial organization in the last few decades, searching for increased local capacities. Great Britain, Denmark and Germany are the examples of such reforms, although many other countries went in the same direction. Certain transitional countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, etc.) went in opposite direction, fragmenting their territorial structures. In the third group are those countries that mainly retained their traditional municipality structures. They have local units of very different sizes, like France, which has made changes in some other dimensions of its local government system – by introducing regions, fostering intermunicipal cooperation, and by preparing special status of metropolis. Four continuums are identified as relevant for the territorial organisation of a country: continuums between: 1) very small and very large municipalities, 2) fragmentation and consolidation, 3) etatisation and privatisation, and 4) centralisation and decentralisation. Surrogates for consolidation are: inter-municipal cooperation, forms of building local administrative and professional capacities, differentiation of statuses of various municipalities, private engagement in providing local services, levelling (designing more than one level of local authorities), supplementing and substituting municipalities by the structural arrangements for regional policy, performing tasks important for local people by the local branches of central state administration, and other forms of centralisation. Solutions for relaxing problems caused by too big local governments can be: fostering citizens’participation and the forms of direct democracy, including e-democracy, strengthening local identities, sub-municipal decentralisation, functional and fiscal decentralisation, privatisation of local services, and – again – centralisation of previously local tasks and responsibilities. It can be concluded that design of special, different statuses for heterogeneous local governments is only more or less productive surrogate, not the best solution for fragmented territorial structures., Mnoge zemlje zapadne Europe konsolidirale su svoje teritorijalne organizacije tijekom nekoliko zadnjih desetljeća, radi povećanja lokalnih kapaciteta. Velika Britanija, Danska i Njemačka su primjeri takvih reformi, ali su i mnoge druge zemlje išle u istom pravcu. Neke tranzicijske zemlje (Češka, Slovačka, Mađarska, Hrvatska, Slovenija, i dr.) išle su u suprotnom smjeru, fragmentirajući svoje teritorijalne strukture. U trećoj su grupi zemlje koje su uglavnom zadržale svoje tradicionalno ustrojstvo lokalne samouprave. One imaju lokalne jedinice vrlo različite veličine, kao Francuska, koja je promijenila neke druge komponente svojeg sustava lokalne samouprave uvodeći regije, snažeći suradnju lokalnih jedinica i pripremajući posebni status tzv. metropola. Za teritorijalnu organizaciju zemlje identificirana su četiri kontinuuma: 1) između vrlo malih i vrlo velikih jedinica, 2) između fragmentacije (razdvajanja) i konsolidacije (okrupnjavanja), 3) između etatizacije i privatizacije, 4) između centralizacije i decentralizacije. Nadomjesci za okrupnjavanje lokalnih jedinica su: suradnja manjih lokalnih jedinica, oblici jačanja lokalnih upravnih i stručnih kapaciteta, diferencijacija statusa različitih jedinica, privatna inicijativa u pružanju lokalnih službi, stupnjevanje – stvaranje više razina lokalnih jedinica, dopunjavanje i zamjena lokalnih jedinica strukturnim aranžmanima za regionalnu politiku, obavljanje poslova važnih za lokalno stanovništvo od strane lokalnih ekspozitura tijela državne uprave, kao i drugi oblici centralizacije. Rješenja za olakšavanje problema koji nastaju ako su lokalne jedinice prevelike su: jačanje participacije i drugih oblika neposredne demokracije, uključujući e-demokraciju, jačanje lokalnih identiteta, decentralizacija unutar lokalnih jedinica, funkcionalna i fiskalna decentralizacija, privatizacija lokalnih službi, ali i centralizacija nekad lokalnih zadataka i poslova. Može se zaključiti da je oblikovanje posebnih statusa za različite lokalne jedinice samo manje ili više uspješni nadomjestak, a ne najbolje moguće rješenje za fragmentirane teritorijalne strukture.

The last two decades have been marked by the extensive efforts of the European institutions and organisations, as well as the academic community, to define and describe the concept of the European administrative space. The concept was initially intended to serve to the candidate countries as a model for administrative reform. The process of the concept development can be traced by the analysis of Sigma’s activity, ranging from modest beginnings focusing on legal requirements for professional and accountable civil service based on the principle of legality, to multiplicity of demands and criteria for institutional adjustments. Still, the primary importance is given to the concept of good administration, which stands in essence of the European administrative space and relates to the standards and procedural requirements aiming at the protection of citizens’ rights before administrative bodies as well as at the judicial control of public administration. The paper first explores the concept of European administrative space in theoretical and practical terms, and then presents the concept of good administration within the EU. The role of Sigma in defining and ’codifying’ the administrative principles and requirements is analysed as well as its areas of activity intended to define good administration. Finally, in relation to the above-mentioned concepts, the reflection on the problem of institutional and legal adjustments is offered based on Croatian example., Posljednja dva desetljeća obilježena su intenzivnim naporima europskih institucija i organizacija te akademske zajednice da se definira i opiše koncept europskog upravnog prostora. U početku koncept je trebao poslužiti državama kandidatkinjama za članstvo kao model za upravnu reformu. Proces razvijanja koncepta može se pratiti na analizi aktivnosti Sigme, a kreće se od skromnih početaka fokusiranih na pravne zahtjeve u pogledu profesionalne i odgovorne državne službe utemeljene na načelima zakonitosti, do višestrukih zahtjeva i kriterija za institucionalne prilagodbe. Nadalje, primarna važnost daje se konceptu dobre uprave, koji je u srži europskog upravnog prostora, i veže se na standarde i procesne zahtjeve usmjerene na zaštitu prava građana pred upravnim tijelima te sudske kontrole javne uprave. U tekstu se istražuje koncept europskog upravnog prostora u teorijskom i praktičnom smislu te se predstavlja koncept dobre uprave u EU-u. Analizira se uloga Sigme u definiranju i kodifikaciji upravnih načela i zahtjeva te područja njezine aktivnosti usmjerene na koncept dobre uprave. Na kraju, u odnosu na gore spomenute koncepte, razmata se problem institucionalnih i pravnih prilagodbi na temelju hrvatskog primjera., Die letzten beiden Jahrzehnte sind geprägt vom intensiven Bemühen der europäischen Institutionen und Organisationen wie auch der akademischen Gemeinschaft, das Konzept eines Europäischen Verwaltungsraums zu definieren und zu beschreiben. Anfangs sollte das Konzept den Beitrittskandidaten als Modell für ihre Verwaltungsreformen dienen. Der Entfaltungsprozess dieses Konzepts lässt sich an einer Analyse der Sigma-Aktivitäten nachverfolgen, beginnend bei ersten bescheidenen Rechtsanforderungen bezüglich eines professionell handelnden und verantwortungsvollen, auf dem Legalitätsprinzip basierenden Staatsdienstes bis hin zu vielfältigen Ansprüchen und Kriterien für institutionelle Anpassungen. Außerdem kommt dem Konzept der Good Governance, das mit seinen auf den Schutz der Bürgerrechte gegenüber Verwaltungsbehörden und die gerichtliche Kontrolle der öffentlichen Verwaltung abzielenden Standards und Prozessanforderungen den Kern des Europäischen Verwaltungsraums bildet, primäre Bedeutung zu. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird das Konzept des Europäischen Verwaltungsraums in theoretischer und praktischer Hinsicht untersucht sowie das Konzept der Good Governance in der EU vorgestellt. Die Rolle von Sigma bei der Definition und Kodifizierung von Verwaltungsprinzipien und –anforderungen sowie ihre auf das Konzept der Good Governance ausgerichteten Tätigkeitsbereiche werden analysiert. Schließlich wird in Bezug auf die oben erwähnten Konzepte das Problem der institutionellen und rechtlichen Anpassungen anhand des kroatischen Beispiels erörtert.