From Municipalisation to Centralism: Changes to Local Public Service Delivery in Hungary

Abstract

Hungarian municipalities used to be local governments with a wide range of responsibilities in public service provision, but now they are not. Their case of reorganisation shows a relatively extreme answer on conflicts arising at intergovernmental levels in countries after their former transition process. Originally municipalities were given responsibility for quite a lot of services in 1990. Then a radical turn started in 2010–2011 targeted not only structural changes, but allocation of functions, as well. The system has become centralised. The national government started to take ownership of utility companies. At the same time provision of human services became purely administered by the state through newly established nationwide institutions. The study provides an account of this extraordinary development in the European regulatory environment.