NAMRB Representatives

NAMRB REPRESENTATION

REPRESENTATION SCOPE

The Local Self-Government and Local Administration Act determines the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria as the official representative of the local authorities before the state bodies in the process of elaboration of draft proposals for amendments and improvement of the legal base for local self-government, in the preparatory process of the annual state budget in its part regarding the municipalities and in the establishment of contacts and cooperation with similar organizations from other countries and within international associations.

According to its Statutes, NAMRB represents and protects the interests of its members before the National Assembly, the President of the Republic, the Council of Ministers, the ministries and central bodies, dealing with issues in the area of local self-government.

NAMRB has nearly 600 representatives in over 250 working bodies, incl. in 5 international organizations.

Representation in national bodies:

• National advisory / coordination / public councils: bodies of the central government with advisory and coordination functions, created on an inter-institutional basis. Their main functions are defined in the Rules of Procedures of the respective body and in the Ordinance for its composition. The national councils support the relevant ministers or parliamentary committees by proposing, discussing and coordinating the strategic priorities in the state policy by sectors, giving a preliminary opinions on draft normative acts and supporting the implementation of the policies and their monitoring.
• Monitoring Committees (MC) and joint monitoring committees of the Operational Programmes and Cross-border cooperation programs. They are created on the basis of a Decree of the Council of Ministers. The composition is determined by an Ordinance of the respective line minister. The committees are an inter-institutional collective body founded on the principle of partnership. The main functions of the MC are the supervision, examination and approval of proposals by the head of the relevant Managing Authority (MA); the methodology and criteria for selection of operations, as well as subsequent amendments and addendums, coordination of the Indicative annual work programs and their subsequent amendment, monitoring of the programme and its progress, examination and approval of the annual and final reports on the implementation of the programs prepared by the MA, etc. Important amendments and addendums to acts and actions of the MA can be implemented through the decisions taken by the Monitoring Committee.
• Managing authorities (managing and monitoring committees) of public structures, including state enterprises - collective inter-institutional bodies implementing ongoing management and monitoring of certain sector policies in a given institution. Institutionally, the members of these bodies are determined either in a normative act or in internal Riles of Procedures, depending on the status of the organization (state, private, NGO).
• Bodies of other non-profit organizations (Management Boards, Board of Trustees, etc.) – collective management bodies of the respective organizations. Their members can be representatives of the legislative and executive authorities, non-profit organizations and other stakeholders, depending on the area of activity of the organization.
• Working groups: can be divided into: intra-institutional, inter-institutional, at expert and high management level, working groups to national councils and thematic working groups for the preparation of programme documents for the upcoming program period. The groups can also be distinguished on the base of their nature – permanent structures for coordination of certain line policies to the relevant ministry or ad hoc - for the purpose of developing a draft normative or administrative act. The main functions of the working groups are related to the elaboration, discussion and updating of legal, by-law or internal documents, strategies, plans, etc. based on expert suggestions and opinions. The composition of the working group, the deadline for the completion of the activity, the minimum number of meetings and the expected results are determined by an Ordinance of the line minister/deputy minister. The majority of the working groups are expert level, with the exception of high management level groups related to the processes of deinstitutionalization of children and the elderly.