The coordinator of the UNDP project of support to local self-government units, Teodor Antic, said at the presentation that the decision to issue the publications, which also include a CD-ROM, was made after it was established that citizens as well as councillors in local and regional self-government units were not familiar enough with the functioning of local self-government units.
The publications describe the structure of local self-government units in Croatia, the scope of activities of representative and executive bodies in counties, municipalities and towns, legal acts adopted by those units, the rights of national minorities and the models of financing of local self-government units.
The booklets and the CD-ROM will be distributed free of charge to all interested parties, and after all 10,000 copies are distributed, it will be possible to download their contents from the web site of the UNDP office in Croatia.
At the start of the presentation, Antic presented the results of a survey conducted by the PULS agency in more than 90 percent of local self-government units, which shows that the most serious problems in most units were a shortage of funds, competent staff and advisory bodies, and poor legislation regulating the functioning of local self-government units.