Place and date: House of Europe, Zagreb, July 2, 2018

Presenters:
Ivana Jakir-Bajo, Assistant Minister and Chief State Treasurer at Ministry of Finance
Katica Prpić, State Secretary at Ministry of Public Administration
Tatjana Matošević, Head of the Department for Budget and Finances in Istria County
Vojko Obersnel, Mayor of the City of Rijeka
Mato Čičak, Head of the Municipality of Rugvica
Katarina Ott, Director of the Institute of Public Finance
Mihaela Bronić, Reasearcher at the Institute of Public Finance

Topic: Presentation of the results of the new research cycle within the project “Understanding, monitoring and analysing local government budget transparency: Case study of Croatia and Slovenia – Open local budget index” (IP-2014-09-3008) funded by the Croatian Science Foundation

Content:
The level of budget transparency of all 576 Croatian local units (counties, cities and municipalities) from November 2017 until March 2018 was presented. The overall average level of budget transparency in Croatian counties, cities and municipalities, measured by the number of budget documents published on their respective official websites, stands at 3.5 (out of a possible 5). The number of budget documents published has grown year by year in all types of local government units, averaging 4.9 in counties, 4 in cities and 3.3 in municipalities in the current year. However, despite the improvements in average results achieved, differences among individual local units, notably municipalities, are still huge. A large number of cities and the bulk of municipalities will have to intensify their efforts to comply with their legal obligations and recommendations of the Ministry of Finance in this respect. While the publishing of budget documents does not in itself guarantee absolute transparency, it should still be prescribed and encouraged, because it is the first step towards achieving higher transparency levels necessary for citizens' participation in the budget process.

The Institute has awarded special acknowledgments to top-rated local units. The results of the analysis for all counties, cities and municipalities are presented in the Newsletter Budget transparency in Croatian counties, cities and municipalities (November 2017 – March 2018) and are also available on the interactive map. 

Workshop: Transparency and budget transparency determinants of Croatian and Slovenian local units

Place and date: Institute of Public Finance, 27 October 2017

Presenters:
Mihaela Bronić, Institute of Public Finance
Maja Klun, Faculty of Administration, University of Ljubljana
Katarina Ott, Institute of Public Finance
Velibor Mačkić, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb
Branko Stanić, Institute of Public Finance
Marija Višić, student, PMF-Department of Mathematics, University of Zagreb

Topic: Discussion on the results of the second year of implementation of the project “Understanding, monitoring and analysing local government budget transparency: Case study of Croatia and Slovenia – Open local budget index” (IP-2014-09-3008) funded by the Croatian Science Foundation

Contents:
The results of the second year of research on budget transparency of Croatian and Slovenian local units, measured by the number of key budget documents published on their official web pages from November 2016 until March 2017, were discussed. The five key documents are year-end report for 2015, half-year report for 2016 and budget proposal, enacted budget and citizens' budget for 2017. The measured level of budget transparency of Croatian and Slovenian local units and the methods of finding budget transparency determinants were discussed.

Presentation of the results: Croatian local units' budget transparency: November 2016 - March 2017

Place and date: House of Europe, Zagreb, July 4, 2017

Presenters:
Manica Hauptman, Economic Advisor at the European Commission Representative Office in the Republic of Croatia
Zdravko Marić, Minister of Finance
Lovro Kuščević, Minister of Public Administration
Goran Pauk, Head of Šibenik-Knin County
Zlatko Brlek, Mayor of the City of Klanjec
Štefica Sirutka, Head of the Municipality of Đelekovec
Anamarija Musa, Information Commissioner of the Republic of Croatia
Katarina Ott, Director of the Institute of Public Finance
Mihaela Bronić, Researcher at the Institute of Public Finance

Topic: Presentation of the results of the new research cycle within the project “Understanding, monitoring and analysing local government budget transparency: Case study of Croatia and Slovenia – Open local budget index” (IP-2014-09-3008) funded by the Croatian Science Foundation

Content:
The level of budget transparency of all 576 Croatian local units (counties, cities and municipalities) from November 2016 until March 2017 was presented. The average level of budget transparency in local government units has been improving year by year. In the current research cycle, it averages 3.1 (the maximum rank is 5), with counties already being very transparent (4.6 on average), cities fairly good (3.7 on average), but municipalities still lagging behind (2.8 on average). Despite the relatively solid averages, there are too many extremely non-transparent local government units. Four cities (Gospić, Imotski, Valpovo and Vrgorac) and as many as 39 municipalities have not published a single budget document that we were searching for. As in previous years, the most transparent local government units include very sparsely populated ones, such as Ribnik and Dekanovec, and local government units with low per capita income (e.g. Jarmina and Đelekovec). On the other hand, some of the least transparent local government units include units with very high total and per capita budget revenues (e.g. Sutivan, Šolta, Dugopolje and Bol).

The Institute has awarded special acknowledgments to top-rated local units.

The results of the analysis for all counties, cities, and municipalities are presented in the Newsletter Budget transparency in Croatian counties, cities and municipalities (November 2016 – March 2017) and are also available on the interactive map.

Workshop: Transparency and budget transparency determinants of Croatian and Slovenian local units

Place and date: Institute of Public Finance, 11 October 2016

Presenters:
Katarina Ott, Institute of Public Finance
Mihaela Bronić, Institute of Public Finance
Maja Klun, Faculty of Administration, University of Ljubljana
Velibor Mačkić, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb

Topic: Discussion on the results of the first year of implementation of the project “Understanding, monitoring and analysing local government budget transparency: Case study of Croatia and Slovenia – Open local budget index” (IP-2014-09-3008) funded by the Croatian Science Foundation

Contents:
The results of the first year of researching budget transparency of Croatian and Slovenian local units, measured by the number of key budget documents published on their official web pages from November 2015 until March 2016, were presented. The five key documents are: year-end report for 2014, half-year report for 2015 and budget proposal, enacted budget and citizens' budget for 2016. The current level of budget transparency of Croatian and Slovenian local units and the methods of finding budget transparency determinants were discussed.

Presentation of the results: Croatian local units' budget transparency: November 2015 - March 2016

Place and date: Novinarski dom, Zagreb, 5 July 2016

Presenters:
Zdravko Marić, Minister of Finance
Dubravka Jurlina Alibegović, Minister of Administration
Milan Kolić, Head of Lika-Senj County
Gordana Lipšinić, Mayor of the City of Ozalj
Goran Reljić, Head of Municipality of Kistanje
Anamarija Musa, Information Commissioner of the Republic of Croatia
Katarina Ott, Director of the Institute of Public Finance
Mihaela Bronić, Researcher at the Institute of Public Finance

Topic: Presentation of the results of the first year of the implementation of the project "Understanding, monitoring and analysing local government budget transparency:  Case study of Croatia and Slovenia – Open local budget index", funded by the Croatian Science Foundation

Contents: The level of budget transparency of all 576 Croatian local units (counties, cities, and municipalities) from November 2015 until March 2016 was presented. Although the local units' budget transparency is increasing every year – from an average of 1.75 in the previous research cycle to 2.35 in the latest research cycle – the condition is still unsatisfactory. The most transparent units are counties (average 4.3), with 11 counties publishing all five key budget documents. The transparency of cities (average 3.05) is lower than that of counties and only 25 of 128 cities published all five documents. Transparency of municipalities is poor (average 2.04) and only 8 of 428 municipalities published all five documents – Bizovac, Kistanje, Konavle, Kostrena, Lovran, Orehovica, Radoboj, and Sveti Križ Začretje.

The Institute presented special awards to the top-rated local units..

In order for the results to be as available and clear, the Institute published an interactive map that indicates the results for each local unit. Detailed analysis of the research has been published in the Newsletter Budget transparency in Croatian counties, cities and municipalities (November 2015 – March 2016).