Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 29th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview WG1/WG5 Joint Session (Physical) Author(s) Péter Klotz Ludovika University of Public Service Budapest Hungary Title A New Role Model for Local Governments? - Budget Transparency and Participatory Budgeting of Budapest File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Péter Klotz Abstract This paper deals with the budget transparency and participatory budgeting of Budapest. In the last years, budget transparency and participatory budgeting are seen as a recognised tool influencing the quality of public finance management, limiting risks of corruption and promoting citizens’ participation in public decision-making process. Furthermore, these tools can be seen as a factor promoting public trust towards local governments as well. However, implementation and application of legal instruments in the post-communist transition countries with other socio-economic circumstances remains challenging. Countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, have traditionally lack of experience with citizens’ involvement in public decision-making process and fiscal transparency therefore the implementation of these international standards is even more challenging. Furthermore, in the last years, transparency, accountability and rule of law have significantly weakened in some of these countries at government level, endangering the results of the regime change thirty years ago. Therefore, decision-makers of local governments who wants to change this trend have to propose to citizens a new role model for local governments, which is not a local executor of the central government’s will but empowers citizens, provides transparent budget and tries to involve citizens in decision-making processes. In order to demonstrate this, the paper highlights the challenges that the local government of Budapest elected in October 2019 is facing while implementing a new role model of local government, focusing on its ambitious budget transparency and participatory budgeting program. The program called “Ez a minimum!” (This is the minimum) was elaborated by Hungarian anti-corruption NGOs and tries to adopt and apply new methods to enhance fiscal transparency and accountability of the local governments which are completely confront the practice applied by the government and former local government of Budapest. Based on this, this paper seeks to provide an analysis of Budapest budget transparency model and participatory budgeting solutions based on international best practises and analysis how a capital city can change the formal local government’s practice in order to enhance public trust and involve citizens in the participatory budgeting process. In order to achieve these goals, this paper uses the results of own research based publicly available data on Budapest participatory budgeting and expert interviews. Based on these empirical data and other relevant publications, the paper presents the currently used tools of budget transparency and participatory budgeting of Budapest and provides a fact-based summary of the applied tools. Finally, the case study of Budapest based on interviews with decision-makers of local government of Budapest and representatives of anti-corruption NGOs shows how an engaged leadership for a different role model for local government can change the practice one of the biggest local government in Central Europe. The case study also describes the legal instruments used and the challenges which the decision-makers were faced and provides recommendations for implementing budget transparency and participatory budgeting for local governments.
