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The negative demographic processes over the last decades have lead to a significant decrease of the population in a number of Bulgarian municipalities. This ongoing process makes the question of a territorial-administrative reform more and more topical with each passing year.

The first rule of Article 8 of the Law for the Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Republic of Bulgaria foresees a minimum of 6000 people for the establishment of a new municipality. This requirement is not applied to already existing municipalities, which can be seen on the applied map.

Municipalities with less than 6000 inhabitants

In 2015 there are 69 municipalities that fail the above mentioned initial requirement for establishing of a municipality, while in 2000 those were only 32. The majority of these are situated in the border regions – a clear concentration of such municipalities can be seen in Northwest Bulgaria. In addition, there are 16 municipalities where the population is above 6000 but less than 7000 people. In most of these there is a clear tendency of decreasing population, with the exception of Nikola Kozlevo, Primorsko, Kuklen and Mineralni Bani.

The question whether the requirements for establishing a new municipality should not apply for already existing ones remains open, but it leads to a number of problems, such as:

• Turning many municipalities and municipal enterprises into a major  employer, which creates obvious risks for the local democratic process;
• Inability to apply adequate policies (including successful realization of European projects) due to lack of administrative capacity and enough funding;
• Reaching exceptionally high levels of the ratio between number of municipal workers and the local population.

The regulatory framework has a number of loopholes that allow the establishment of smaller municipalities (Article 8 in relation to Article 9 of the Law for the Aadministrative-Tterritorial Structure of the Republic of Bulgaria ), which basically limits the process to an expression of will of the local population (followed by a referendum) and a decision of the Council of Ministers. Such was the case with the newest Bulgarian municipality – Surnitsa.

There is also a requirement for a distance not higher than 40 km. of the populated places from the municipal center, as well as for proving the ability to finance the expenses of the particular municipality in an amount not less than half of the country average according to data from the last annual report for the execution of municipal budgets. The last rule is also not applied by the majority of the existing municipalities, as in the anecdotal case of the smallest Bulgarian municipality in terms of population – Treklyano. Its own revenues are about BGN 70,000 per year, 45,000 of which come from renting land and property. The yearly expenses of the municipality are almost 10 times higher.

In the light of a  future and much needed  territorial-administrative reform all these requirements will have to be changed. Due to the condition of proving financial capabilities, the process of financial decentralization should be given a priority and its effects should be considered before respective changes in the law are made. This will show which municipalities can finance themselves, at least to a certain point, and which need additional financial support.
In any case the rule for distance not higher than 40 km. from the municipal center should be revised, while the lower limit of population number should be set high enough so it can guarantee the sustainability of the new borders.

The consolidation of municipalities cannot be seen as a panacea for problems of the regional development but the current fragmentation makes it impossible to implement  adequate regional policies in more and more of the country’s regions.

The negative demographic processes over the last decades have lead to a significant decrease of the population in a number of Bulgarian municipalities. This ongoing process makes the question of a territorial-administrative reform more and more topical with each passing year.

The first rule of Article 8 of the Law for the Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Republic of Bulgaria foresees a minimum of 6000 peoplefor the establishment of a new municipality. This requirement is not applied to already existing municipalities, which can be seen on the applied map.

In 2015 there are 69 municipalities that fail the above mentioned initial requirement for establishing of a municipality, while in 2000 those were only 32. The majority of these are situated in the border regions – a clear concentration of such municipalities can be seen in Northwest Bulgaria. In addition, there are 16 municipalities where the population is above 6000 but less than 7000 people. In most of these there is a clear tendency of decreasing population, with the exception of Nikola Kozlevo, Primorsko, Kuklen and Mineralni Bani.

The question whetherthe requirements for establishing a new municipality should not apply for already existing ones remains open, but it leads to a number of problems, such as:

• Turning many municipalities and municipal enterprises into a major employer, which creates obvious risks for the local democratic process;

• Inability to apply adequate policies (including successful realization of European projects) due to lack of administrative capacity and enough funding;

• Reaching exceptionally high levels of the ratio between number of municipal workers and the local population.

The regulatory framework has a number of loopholes that allow the establishment of smaller municipalities (Article 8 in relation to Article 9 of the Law for the Aadministrative-Tterritorial Structure of the Republic of Bulgaria ), which basically limits the process to an expression of will of the local population (followed by a referendum) and a decision of the Council of Ministers. Such was the case with the newest Bulgarian municipality – Surnitsa.

There is also a requirement for a distance not higher than 40 km. of the populated places from the municipal center, as well as for proving the ability to finance the expenses of the particular municipality in an amount not less than half of the country average according to data from the last annual report for the execution of municipal budgets. The last rule is also not applied by the majority of the existing municipalities, as in the anecdotal case of the smallest Bulgarian municipality in terms of population – Treklyano. Its own revenues are about BGN 70,000 per year, 45,000 of which come from renting land and property. The yearly expenses of the municipality are almost 10 times higher.

In the light of a future and much needed territorial-administrative reform all these requirements will have to be changed. Due to the condition of proving financial capabilities, the process of financial decentralization should be given a priority and its effects should be considered before respective changes in the law are made. This will show which municipalities can finance themselves, at least to a certain point, and which need additional financial support.

In any case the rule for distance not higher than 40 km. from the municipal center should be revised, while the lower limit of population number should be set high enough so it can guarantee the sustainability of the new borders.

The consolidation of municipalities cannot be seen as a panacea for problems of the regional development but the current fragmentation makes it impossible to implement adequate regional policies in more and more of the country’s regions.