Organised by EU4Good Governance in conjunction with the EU Delegation to Albania, in close coordination with the Minister of State for Local Government of Albania and the Agency for Support to Local Government.

Date: 13 November 2025

Levelling up: The Role of Albanian Municipalities in EU integration – Giving a voice to the Local Governments

Main objectives:

Look closely at the role of Albanian local governments in the EU accession process and in implementing the EU acquis.
Assess ways to strengthen the financial autonomy of local governments as a way of building their capacity to implement the above.
Appraise the needs linked to strengthening the capacity of local governments to effectively implement decentralisation for the benefit of the citizens.

Programme – Main topics

Basics of Local Governance – Importance of the Charter for Local Self-Government

The charter stipulates that its signatories adhere to principles such as the autonomy of the local authorities, the right of citizens to take active part in local affairs, the right of local authorities to have their own structures and sufficient financial resources to implement their functions.

Main messages: 40^th anniversary of Charter for Local Government, Monitoring of Charter, Foundation and principles of local Public Administration and local democracy

2. Local Fiscal Relations

We will be looking at the financial and fiscal autonomy of Albanian local governments including the process linked to fiscal decentralization, collection and administration of revenues from local taxes and fees, fiscal equalization mechanisms for Municipalities, intergovernmental fiscal relations as well as lessons learned from the financing of devolved functions.

Main messages: maintenance of investments, importance of fiscal decentralization and multilevel governance, sharing of taxes, increasing own revenues as a way of strengthening capacity to implement functions according to minimum standards.

3. Role of Local Governments in Territorial Development

As part of the EU integration process local governments are directly involved in implementing the EU’s cohesion policy by managing projects and distributing funds inside their territories. We will be looking closely at Chapter 22, municipal services and possibilities linked to Intermunicipal Cooperation.

Main messages: Lessons learned from allocation of Cohesion funds, Territorial Development Tools, importance of Intermunicipal Cooperation in territorial development.

AGENDA

AGENDA – LG HL Conference 13Nov2025 – EN Download

AGJENDA – Konferenca e PV – 13Nentor2025 – shqip – FINALE Download