Impacts of Local Government Reforms in Greece: An Interim Assessment

Abstract

Successive waves of local government reforms (territorial and functional) in Greece have depended on factors highlighted in this paper, which focuses on ‘institutional evaluation’ and the achievement or failure of institutional change. Furthermore, ‘performance evaluation’ of institutional change is also attempted, based on dimensions/indicators concerning output legitimacy, coordination/steering and input legitimacy. The paper consists of three parts. The first part deals with decentralisation reform during the period 1981–1995, when the need to transfer competence to local government and broaden the latter's legitimacy predominated. The second part concerns the evaluation of territorial reform orientation and its shift towards efficiency priorities within the framework of Europeanisation (1996–2000). The third part considers the strategic priorities of the current third wave of reform. Finally, a comparative evaluation and conclusions are formulated. During the first wave of local government reform (1981–1995), input legitimacy proved to be particularly strong. On the other hand, coordination and steering proved to be particularly weak, while output legitimacy, especially concerning efficiency, was not a major priority. In comparison with the previous reform, the second wave (1996–2000) scores much better in terms of output legitimacy and coordination/steering, while input legitimacy became weaker. The scope and strategic priorities of the current reform procedure seem intended to tackle deficiencies left over from previous reforms. Worth mentioning are the major reform concerns with efficiency, coordination, transparency, control and accountability deficits. However, the final outcome is still open to conjecture, given the current acute fiscal crisis and the question of consensus building.

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