Organization of local self-government in small European states: Andorra, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein

Jazić Aleksandar (Viši naučni saradnik, Institut za međunarodnu politiku i privredu, Beograd.), jazic@diplomacy.bg.ac.rs

Today in Europe there are several countries that occupy an extremely small territory, which is why many of them are considered city-states. Nevertheless, in all these countries there is local self-government. The organization of local self-governments in those countries is not organized in the same way as in other European countries, which is expected due to their territorial size. The establishment of local self-governments in countries with an extremely small territory clearly indicates the importance of organizing lower levels of government. The subject of this paper will be the territorial division of power in Andorra, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. The aim of the work is to analyze all existing lower levels of government in these states, as well as the way in which they function in terms of their powers. A special emphasis will be placed on the municipal level of government, that is, the one that is parallel or similar to it. The main question in the paper will be how the territorial and institutional specificity of small states shapes the relationship between the central government and local self-government. The small territorial size of the state represents a structural limitation for complete decentralization. This leads to a stronger role of central authorities in the supervision and control of local self-government.

Keywords: small countries, local self-government, taxes, Andorra, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein.