Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 16th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview General Session Author(s) Maria Velikova Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" Varna Bulgaria Title Parameters of the local self-government in Bulgarian municipalties in "legal", functional and institutional dimensions (the example of municipality of Varna) File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract In the period of economic and social transition in the development of Republic of Bulgaria, as well as of specific conditions stemming from the European requirements, the bodies of the local self-government in Bulgarian municipalities have been placed in a diverse and multi-aspect focus of activity. The examination, analysis and search for tendencies for improving these activities is a question of exceptional actuality. The object of the study in the proposed report is the local self-government in its three dimensions – normative, functional and institutional. From this point of view, the study examines the coordination and subordination, the normative restrictions, the operative independence and related competence in the activity of the local administration as specific characteristic features, combining the decentralization in politics with the common national interest of the Bulgarian public. The subject of the concrete analytical illustration is Municipality of Varna – a municipality with a multi-factor basis and possibilities for dynamic development, combining and relating sectors, branches, economic, political and administrative concentration in a complex structure. In the described research area, the defined territorial dimensions of the local self-government within the scope of Municipality of Varna reveal themselves in a combination of three, surpassing its spatial limits and strong area of influence. Those factors that determine the parameters of the local self-government and its modern administrative-territorial, demographical and strategic dimensions are represented schematically. The main legal parameters, regulating the functional and structural organization of the local self-government represented by the Municipal Council and the municipal executive authority are represented. An evaluation of the institutional organization of the local self-government is made, where the possible theoretical and practical options for interrelation between the municipalities and its constituent mayor’s cabinets is indicated. The conclusion is that the Bulgarian local authorities do not need to assume tasks beyond their competence or additional power in the name of the social responsibility, the same way as the central government does not have to be directly responsible for actions that are of competence of these authorities. They need power and capacity in order to fulfil their own functions for building a sustainable and developed society that functions within the EU.
