Introduction

Slovakia is one of the successor states of the former Czechoslovakia. Slovakia is a unitary State composed of regions and municipalities. By means of Article 3 Paragraph 1 of the Slovak Constitution, the territory of the Slovak Republic is single and indivisible. 

Slovakia is a parliamentary republic under the Constitution of 1992 (as amended) and is based on a unicameral Parliament called the National Council of the Slovak Republic. It is the sole constitutional and legislative body (Article 72 of the Constitution). It is composed of 150 directly elected members.  Members of Parliament are elected in one nationwide multimember constituency for the period of four years. Elections to the National Council are conducted on the basis of a universal, equal and direct electoral franchise, by means of secret ballot and in accordance with the principle of proportional representation. The voting system in elections to the National Council is proportional, and based on a rigid party list system using the Hagenbach-Bischoff method and greatest remainders calculation for leftover seats. Each elector has the right to cast four preference votes for candidates with respect to the same party list. 

According to Article 64 of the Constitution, territorial self-administration shall be composed of a municipality and a higher territorial unit. According to the Act 221/1996 Coll. on Territorial and Administrative Division of the Slovak Republic, which came into force on July 24, 1996, regions broken down into districts are the administrative units of the Slovak Republic. The territory is divided into eight Regions, 79 districts, and 2,890 Municipalities, according to the Regional Statistical Yearbook of Slovakia, 2019. The National Council of the Slovak Republic determines whether a municipality has the status of a town, according to Act No. 369/1990.

There is a dual system of state administration and autonomous regional and local self-government. State administration in Slovakia was deconcentrated, and specialised state administration was created. However, since 2013, due to the government's programme Effective, reliable and open public administration, whose main aim is to provide citizens with easily accessible services, we observe renewed concentration efforts of the state administration. Under the programme, 79 state district offices were created, which gathered competencies of the specialised state administration in the fields such as entrepreneurship, education, transport, environment, cadastre, and defence. Other policy areas such as environment, trade, school, construction inspections, and veterinary and public healthcare offices remained in the competence of specialised state administration.

The framework of self-government is organised within two dominant levels – the regional level represented by eight Self-Governing Regions (i.e. eight superior territorial units) and the local level represented by 2,890 municipalities (Bratislava and Košice are further divided in self-governing city parts). The eight Autonomous Regions (samosprávne kraje) are referred to in the Constitution as 'Higher Territorial Units' (Article 64). Since 2002, the eight Slovakian Regions have held specific competences in several areas, and also hold competences delegated by the central level of government.

Slovakia is further divided into 79 districts (okres), mainly for statistical purposes.

A distinction needs to be made between those levels of state administration (regional and/or local authorities) whose representatives are appointed, and self-government, where the mayors, heads of self-governing regions and the members of assemblies are elected directly by citizens and other residents of the respective territorial units. Such elections are held on the basis of a universal, equal, and direct electoral franchise, by means of secret ballot and in accordance with the majoritarian methods.

Within the 2,890 municipalities, 140 have the statute of a 'city' (mesto). This statute is granted by the Slovak Parliament to Municipalities which are an administrative, economic, and cultural centre and provide public services to neighbouring cities. By means of Section 22 of Act no. 369/1990 Coll. on Municipalities as amended, the National Council of the Slovak Republic may declare a municipality a 'city' on a proposal by the Government. The prerequisites for a municipality to be declared a 'city' are stipulated as follows: the municipality in question shall be an economic, cultural and administrative centre, a centre of tourism or a spa resort; shall provide services for the inhabitants from surrounding municipalities; shall dispose of the transport links with surrounding municipalities; shall have at least particular urban character of buildings and shall have at least 5,000 inhabitants. The law does not specify the administrative consequences of such a statute. Moreover, the two main Municipalities of the country, Bratislava and Košice, have special statutes and are sub-divided into city parts.

Chapter four of the Constitution (Articles 64-71) stipulates the basic principles of both levels of territorial self-administration. A municipality and a superior territorial unit are independent territorial and administrative units of the Slovak Republic comprising persons who are permanently resident on their territory. Details shall be laid down by law. A municipality and a superior territorial unit are legal persons that, under conditions laid down by law, independently manage own property and financial resources. A municipality and a superior territorial unit finance their needs primarily from their own revenues, as well as from state subsidies. The law shall lay down which taxes and fees are municipalities' revenue and which taxes and fees are revenues of the superior territorial unit. State subsidies may be claimed only within the limits of law. A municipality has the right to associate with other municipalities in order to provide for the matters of common interest; a superior territorial unit has the same right to associate with other superior territorial units. Conditions shall be laid down by law. The territorial self-administration is performed at meetings of municipality residents, by a local referendum, by a referendum on the territory of a superior territorial unit, by the municipality bodies or the bodies of a superior territorial unit. Duties and restrictions relating to execution of the territorial self-administration may be imposed upon a municipality and a superior territorial unit by law and on the basis of an international treaty pursuant to Article 7, Paragraph 5 of the Constitution.  The state may intervene in activities of a municipality and a superior territorial unit only in a manner laid down by law. The execution of designated tasks of local state administration can be transferred by law to the municipality and to a superior territorial unit. The cost of the execution of such state administration transferred to the local level will be covered by the state. In executing state administration, the municipality and superior territorial unit may, on the basis of law and within its limits, issue ordinances that are generally binding rules within its area of jurisdiction, if empowered to do so by law. The execution of state administration transferred to a municipality or to a superior territorial unit by law is governed and controlled by the Government.

The legal control of sub-national acts is carried out by a public prosecutor who represents the State. He is responsible for the legal control of all administrative acts, both by sub-national self‑governments and the State administration at the regional or local level. Central government is in charge of any responsibility that is not expressly attributed to Municipalities or Regions.

The legal status of municipalities is enacted in Act no. 369/1990 Coll. on Municipal Establishment (last amended in 2019). The legal status of Self-Governing Regions is regulated in Act no. 302/2001 Coll. on Administration of Superior Territorial Units (Law on the Self‑Governing Regions; last amended in 2018). The distribution of competences is laid down in Act no. 416/2001 Coll. on the transfer of some competences from State administration to Municipalities and superior territorial units (last amended in 2015). The issue of decentralisation of public administration is also regulated in Act no. 221/1996 on Territorial and Administrative Organisation of the Slovak Republic (last amended in 2001) and Act no. 222/1996 Coll. on Organisation of Local State Administration (last amended in 2014). Furthermore, several other acts regulate some specific aspects such as the elections to the regional and local territorial and administrative units e.g. Act no. 188/2014 Coll. on the Conditions of Exercise of Electoral Rights, etc.  

According to Article 65(2) of the Constitution, a municipality and a higher territorial unit shall finance their needs primarily from their own revenues and also from State subsidies. Based on Ministry of Finance data, in 2017, the revenue of the Slovak sub-national public sector amounted to EUR 4,044 million, representing 7.7% of national GDP and 16.4% of total public revenue. The main part of sub-national government revenue comes from tax revenue (48%), followed by grants (29%) and other revenue (8%).

Central level

The National Council of the Slovak Republic decides upon the Constitution and other laws, as well as controlling compliance with them, discussing the state budget, supervising its implementation and approving the state closing account; it also discusses basic domestic, international, economic, social, and other political issues, etc. In other words, the National Council approves overall legislation and policy in every policy field.

Regional level

Regions may issue generally binding regulations (Article 68 of the Constitution) applicable to all natural and legal persons within their jurisdiction. Competences have been transferred from state administration bodies to self-governing Regions. This six-phase process was launched on 1 January 2002. The regional and district offices of the state administration were phased out, and their set of residual powers was transferred to the regional self-governments, the local State administration in the centres of Regions (however district offices of the state administration were recreated in 2013), and to the regional offices of specialised state administration.

Original competences in the fields of: second and third class roads, territorial planning, regional development, own investment activities, secondary schools, hospitals, certain social service establishments (retirement homes, social services for children, crises centres, children's homes, etc.), cultural establishments (galleries, museums, theatres, certain libraries, etc.), participation in civil defence, licensing of pharmacies and private physicians.

Transferred competences in the fields of: section of powers in the education sector, healthcare sector, and road transport. 

The regional competences concern the following areas:

• Social, economic, and cultural development of the Regions;
• Management of own budget, of investment and public contracts;
• International and trans-regional cooperation;
• Regional planning;
• Social welfare and provision of social services, including homes for children, social policy and coordination of all subjects related to this area;
• Healthcare, including the establishment of hospitals of the second type, management of non-state healthcare as psychiatric hospitals and dental services);
• Education, including secondary, professional, art and vocational schools, construction and maintenance of buildings, remuneration of teachers on behalf of the state;
• Transport, including the construction and maintenance of regional roads, coordination of the railway system on its territory;
• Culture, including regional theatres, libraries, museums, galleries, and cultural centres;
• Tourism, including the planning of regional tourism and regional tourism development;
• Sport;
• Youth;
• Human pharmaceutics, including issuing licences for public pharmacies, executing control over public pharmacies, managing of stand-by pharmaceutical services, and decision-making regarding pharmaceutical reserves;
• Civil defence (in cooperation with state bodies)
  
   

Local level

Responsibilities of Municipalities

Municipalities may issue generally binding regulations (Article 68 of the Constitution) applicable to all natural and legal persons within their jurisdiction.

Original competences in the field of: local roads, public transport, public areas, green areas, cleanness, nature and environment protection, water management, sewer system, municipal waste, territorial planning, local development, housing, pre-school and school establishments, social establishments, policlinics, certain hospitals, culture, certification of documents, certain offences, municipal police, collection of local taxes and fees, participation in regional planning.

Transferred competences in the field of: registry offices, the construction order, and a section of duties in the education sector.

Self-governing bodies of Municipalities have decision-making power in the following areas:

• Local management and local taxes;
• Maintenance of municipal property;
• Education, including pre-school and primary school, maintenance and construction of buildings, payment of teacher and staff salary on behalf of the state;
• Social welfare, including personal assistance, homes for the elderly, social services for children;
• Housing, including housing development, construction and maintenance of social housing;
• Local public transport;
• Local public utilities and networks, including water supply and sewerage, waste collection, urban heating, construction and upkeep of local roads, public areas, cemeteries, street lighting;
• Health, including the establishment of outpatient departments, first aid stations, hospitals and medical centres of the first type;
• Economic development, including local planning and tourism development strategies;
• Leisure, including local cultural centres and libraries, local sport centres; and
• Public order, including local police, voluntary fire-fighting units.