Habijan: merging municipalities and cities will save money

With a population of just under 3.9 million people, Croatia has 555 units of local government. It is hoped that the Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation Ministry’s project to functionally merge municipalities and cities will cut red tape and save budgetary funds.

Speaking after a celebration marking the Day of the City of Pregrada in the Zagorje region of Croatia, Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation Minister Damir Habijan said that the functional merger of municipalities and cities will produce a more efficient public administration.

Pregrada is a small town that has shown this in practice, linking up with two neighboring municipalities to jointly employ municipal services in a bid to save budgetary money.

Minister Habijan said that he is pleased to see that a number of municipalities and cities have opted for such mergers: "If I look at the data, I think there are almost 240 municipalities and cities in question. Although, I should note that some have connected in multiple and various ways, such as a joint employee, a joint administrative unit or a commercial company. So there are multiple forms in question. But what lies ahead is a visit to the seat of every county to promote this project of functional merger and optimization."

Source: HRT