The Faculty of Economics and Administration of MU has once again confirmed its important position in the field of international research, education and cooperation in public administration. On Thursday, 17 February 2022, it hosted for the first time in its history a meeting of the Steering Committee of the European Consortium "Intergovernmental Coordination from Local to European Governance"
Our faculty is one of the partners of the pan-European network of experts within the approved COST Action. The aim of the project is to systematically map the institutions, mechanisms and various coordination processes between different levels of government, policy sectors and local government units.
The project was launched on 30 September 2021 and will run until 2025. The specific points it addresses include several key scientific questions in the field of public administration. For example, the issue of knowledge spread to inform the general public about the design and implementation of public policies.
Prof. Juraj Nemec from the Department of Public Economics at FEA MU is a member of the programme management and the head of Working Group Four (WG4), which focuses on financial relations between different levels of government.
"COST is one of the most prestigious programmes within the framework of European collaborative research. Being part of the governing body strengthens the position of the faculty in international research," emphasizes Nemec. "Participation brings many benefits to Masaryk University and the Faculty of Economics and Administration. In addition, the broad representation of European countries in this project gives room for the production of extremely high-quality comparative publications in journals and books."
According to the German, COST is not just an academic affair. He anticipates that the results of the research will have international and national societal impacts in the future and will also influence practice itself. The aim of the project is to suggest ways of optimizing coordination processes between different levels of government. From the perspective of the Czech Republic, for example, the optimization of the tax designation system or ways to better align the scope of competences of local governments and their financing.
The organization of the IGCOORD Steering Committee meetings is done on a rotational basis among the institutions that are part of the apex body. The Faculty of Economics and Administration hosted this type of event for the first time in its history. The uniqueness of the event is underlined by the fact that it was the first meeting of the leadership where experts could meet in person.
In particular, the plans for the individual working groups, of which there are five, were discussed. This not only set the basic framework for the work of the project for its duration but also addressed the identification of "stakeholders" who might be interested in the research results.
COST members are individual countries, not separate institutions. That is why the University of Pardubice is also part of the Steering Committee for the Czech Republic. "Together with them, we have already prepared a complementary national project on fiscal decentralization, which should be evaluated this calendar year," concludes Professor Nemec.
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