African migrants ’left in desert’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4319828.stm France warns over Africa migrants http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5164514.stm
Europe: Spain: African Migrants Accused Of Attacking Sea Patrol
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E1DE123FF932A25757C0A9619C8B63 Migration News Sheet - December 2005 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3163.html Migration News Sheet - January 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3147.html Migration News Sheet - February 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3192.html Migration News Sheet - March 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3252.html Migration News Sheet - April 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3280.html Migration News Sheet - April 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3280.html Migration News Sheet - May 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3296.html Migration News Sheet - June 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3305.html Migration News Sheet - July 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3342.html Migration News Sheet - August 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3357.html
15 Amikor az EU gyorsreagálású egységeiről megszületett a döntés, akkor a tagállamok – mivel nagy az átfedés az EU-, és a NATO-tag országok között – ugyanazokat az egységeket ajánlották fel mindkét szervezet számára.
EURÓPAI UNIÓ
Migration News Sheet - September 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3409.html Migration News Sheet - October 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3559.html Migration News Sheet - November 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3568.html Migration News Sheet - December 2006 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3578.html Migration News Sheet - January 2007 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3589.html Migration News Sheet - April 2007 http://www.migpolgroup.com/news/3673.html
EU and the migration policy http://www.migrationsverket.se/english.jsp?english/eeu/e_eu.htm Joint Africa-EU declaration on migration and development
www.frontex.europa.eu
HERA II Operation to be Prolonged http://www.frontex.europa.eu/newsroom/news_releases/art3.html
Longest FRONTEX coordinated operation – HERA, the Canary Islands
http://www.frontex.europa.eu/newsroom/news_releases/art8.html
Mediterranean Transit Migration http://www.frontex.europa.eu/newsroom/news_releases/art11.html A sequel of operation Hera just starting
http://www.frontex.europa.eu/newsroom/news_releases/art13.html Hera III operation
http://www.frontex.europa.eu/newsroom/news_releases/art21.html Frontex purpose http://www.frontex.europa.eu/more_about_frontex/
Frontex origin http://www.frontex.europa.eu/origin_and_tasks/origin/
Frontex tasks http://www.frontex.europa.eu/origin_and_tasks/tasks/
External Relations http://www.frontex.europa.eu/external_relations/
European Commission
Trafficking in human beings European Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/crime/trafficking/fsj_crime_human_trafficking_en.htm The European Union Policy towards a Common European Asylum System
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/asylum/fsj_asylum_intro_en.htm
Immigration - European Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/immigration/fsj_immigration_intro_en.htm
Illegal immigration and return - European Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/immigration/illegal/fsj_immigration_illegal_en.htm www.euvonal.hu
Gyorsan bevethető határőr-egységeket hoz létre az EU http://www.euvonal.hu/index.php?op=hirek&id=3991
Megkezdte munkáját Olaszországban az EU Határvédelmi Ügynöksége
http://www.euvonal.hu/index.php?op=hirek&id=3154
ÉSZAK-AFRIKAI BEVÁNDORLÓK ÉS AZ
EURÓPAI UNIÓ
Évi 500 ezer illegális bevándorló az EU-ban http://www.euvonal.hu/index.php?op=magazin&id=645
Van-e az EU-nak egységes menekültügyi és bevándorlási politikája?
http://www.euvonal.hu/index.php?op=kerdesvalasz_reszletes&kerdes_valasz_id=150
Frattini szerint hajók és helikopterek kellenek az illegális bevándorlás leküzdésére http://www.euvonal.hu/index.php?op=hirek&id=3694
www.bbc.co.uk
Stemming the immigration wave http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5331896.stm Staff woes hit EU border agency http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6303089.stm EU unveils new immigration plans http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6160633.stm
www.euractiv.com
Frattini hints at ’selective’ immigration policy http://euractiv.com/en/justice/frattini-hints-selective-immigration-policy/article-160974
Frattini forwards immigration initiative http://euractiv.com/en/justice/frattini-forwards-immigration-initiative/article-160199
EU, Africa talk migration and brain drain http://euractiv.com/en/justice/eu-africa-talk-migration-brain-drain/article-159976
International Herald Tribune
EU ministers agree to tackle illegal immigration on southern borders http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/05/europe/EU_GEN_EU_Immigration.php
EU targets smuggling of Africans to Europe http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/30/news/migrate.php EU sets 2007 target for scrapping border controls http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/05/news/union.php
EU nations approve new EU frontier rapid reaction teams to stem flow of African migrants http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/20/europe/EU-GEN-EU-Immigration.php
The Guardian
EU force to stem African migrants http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1781721,00.html Lost in Schengen http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1824980,00.html
EU urged to crack down on illegal African immigration http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1990837,00.html EU warned of new wave of illegal immigrants http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1991169,00.html
Chapter 11. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICES IN HUNGARY
László Kákai
1. INTRODUCTION
Before a more thorough examination of the players providing public services, we must define a framework – even if vaguely – to be able to discern the various players’ scope of action more precisely.
Looking at the content and the changes of the public sector from a historical perspective, we can distinguish three major phases.
Subsequent, changing, or a combination of, economic theories of the past decades, addressing the fundamental question of what role the state plays in the economy, have had a profound effect on public finance, the current budget, and especially on the provision of public services. The first phase was the period of free market capitalism where the self-regulation of the market prevailed. Although the state had a major role to provide for infrastructural demands, at the time the importance of production and production increase were in limelight instead of the social aspects. In the period of original capital accumulation, social tensions first emerged locally in the form of urban poverty. We only need to remind ourselves of the poor flowing to towns, the tensions brought along by the unprotected wage laborers, or child labor. The social tensions which accumulated as a result of market relations appeared first as a demand for local public goods. The scarce institutions – poorhouses, workhouses, orphan care – were all organized by local municipalities.
The second phase was characterized by the period of welfare state. This period actually started in the 1930’s, with the implementation of Keynes’s theory, resulting in practices of state interventions which became dominant in Western countries. The first welfare programs were introduced in Great Britain and subsequently in the USA, during Roosevelt’s presidency. This era saw the increased role of government in providing public services, however, at the same time, the role of community also rose in absolute terms.
The increased role of the state generally favored the acknowledgement of responsibility areas of local authorities. That was the dawn of certain ’municipal socialism’, or a so-called ’new-fabianism’, in Anglo-Saxon countries. This era could therefore be characterized by relatively high taxes, state redistribution and the creation and operation of an extensive public service system – a heavy burden for the state and the municipalities.
Finally, the third phase which includes the trends criticizing the concept of welfare state started in the mid-1970’s. Emphasizing economy can directly be related to, and explained by, the massive surge of welfare expenses, the growing deficit of state budget, and the spreading of the oil crisis. This trend, also called ‘new conservatism,’ had to face the (high) expenses of existing welfare services, the high taxes and public rates. The consequence was the neoliberal economic policy, which put a limit to the scope and opportunities of state intervention. All this affected the local public sector in terms of its range of activities and influence.
Government policy in local and regional level transformed. As a result, there was a two-directional change in the production of public goods. On the one hand, the government’s responsibility for the provision of public goods decreased. Characteristically, many public goods, regarded as such until then, became private goods (again). On the other hand, the remaining scope of responsibilities of the government also underwent a distinct change. Direct task-fulfillment of the previous period transformed into a new type of management that relied on the role of market mechanisms, in order to gratify public demands.
Summing it up, we can say that the strengthening of local government actually coincides with the permanent decline of public services directly provided by the state, and with the penetration of market relations. In all developed countries, the role of state redistribution is growing, more and more nation-state functions are concentrated with international organizations, and the curtailing of competences of national governments coincided with the strengthening of the local state, i.e., the local government. It points to another important element of municipality, which, as Pálné Kovács Ilona demonstrated, considers local government not as autonomy but primarily as the division of labor between the state and local community (Pálné, 1990: 48). The
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING
LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICES IN HUNGARY
international advance of local governments corresponded with a political intention aimed at pulling down the totality of state while increasing the proportion of local decisions and tasks.
The decline of state obligations is well demonstrated by the process in which more and more duties and obligations are transferred to local governments. The constantly deteriorating economic climate from the 80’s led to the moderation of central financing, which significantly affected – although to a various extent in each country – the ’’spending’’ of local governments (Stoker, 1991:2). Challenges which the local governments had to face were more broad-scale than indicated by the ’’financial crisis’’. Social and economic changes had a significant effect on the environment in which the local government itself operated. This actually led to a process which resulted in the emergence of non-governmental/non-profit organizations offering various services, partly in fields abandoned by the state, partly together with local governments.
In every developed and democratic country of the world, NGOs are indispensable components of the democratic political system, playing an important mediatory role in the relationship between society and the political institutions. Their number, role and influence have been rising since the Second World War. The interest in the non-profit organizations can primarily be attributed to the enduring crisis of the state for over two decades, as well as the crisis signaled by representative democracy which is based on political parties. In the developed north, the crisis manifested itself in questioning the traditional welfare social policy; in the greater part of the developing south, in the disappointment of the state-controlled development; and in Middle-Eastern-Europe, in the collapse of state socialism.
The incredible growth of the European non-profit sector in the past 20 years (particularly in terms of public services) can be explained by a number of factors:
• Following the financial crisis of the 70’s and the early 90’s, several governments looked for alternative solutions to replace the organization of the welfare services previously offered by the state. The privatization process of services can be observed in all Europe, and many NGOs have taken over from the state significant segments of services in extensive demand;
• Voluntary organizations have been increasingly assigned to provide services generated by community institutions;
• Public preferences have changed, and instead of the typically standardized and relatively impersonal services offered by public institutions, people increasingly demanded to receive tailor-made and more client-orientated services, generally preferred by voluntary organizations.
• More and more new needs are acknowledged, and a growing number of social needs are formulated (e.g.
gender equality, protection of biosphere, etc.);
• Employment crisis of the late 70’s and 80’s led to the launch of employment programs with the involvement of voluntary organizations (Tarling, N. 1998, 2) (Communication from the Commission of the European Communities on Promoting the Role of Voluntary Organizations and Foundations in Europe. Brussels, 6 June, 1997 COM (97) 241 final).
The growing number of NGOs was also boosted by that many doubted the problem-solving abilities of the state, and it has appeared less and less likely that the state can in itself find solutions to the social, developmental and environmental problems that today’s nations have to face. From the mid-70’s, a number of theories were developed about the increasing role of non-profit organization. Of these, theories by Burton Weisbord, Estelle James, Henry Hansmann and Lester Salamon seem to be central to our subject matter.
Burton Weisbord was looking for an answer to why non-profit organizations participate in the production of certain public goods. He sees the reason for this in the failure of the market 1 and the state, as consumers’
demands for public goods were insufficiently satisfied by the state, and their own market solutions are inefficient for the society (Weisbord, 1991: 21).
According to Henry Hansmann’s ‘confidence theory’, non-profit organizations typically appear as service providers in a situation when customers (either due to the nature of service, or to the circumstances of purchase) are uncertain about obtaining the right quality of service. As contractual relationships no more provide sufficient
1 Lack of complete information about goods and services offered, the possibility of the emergence of monopolies restricting free market competition, external effects and costs of market behavior, etc.
HUNGARY
protection to the customer, a situation emerges known in the literature as ’the failure of contractual relationships’. 2 In this case, non-profits – in contrast with for-profits – seem to be more reliable because they draw less suspicion (because of the lack of profit-oriented proprietors) to take personal advantage of bad quality (Bartal, 2005: 69).
In her supply theory, Estelle James wanted to find the reasons why the state forsakes the production of ‘quasi public goods’. She believes to find the reason in three factors. The first one is of political nature: the government wishes to gain support this way from certain social groups and organizations. The second one draws on economic explanations, as state expenses are often lower when services are not carried out by state institutions.
Finally, the third reason, which actually justifies the choice of non-profit organizations, is that their labor costs are generally lower – partly due to voluntary work 3 – than the wages paid by state-run institutions (Bartal, 2005:
73).
Henry Hansmann states it is not only the individual customers that turn to non-profit organizations (which have a greater capital of confidence) instead of market service providers, but the state itself as the buyer of services prefers co-operating with them.
The above mentioned theoretical approaches show very well that from the 80’s on, the understanding of the non-profit sector’s situation is closely related to finding the way out of the crisis of welfare state. This era is mainly characterized by the privatization and marketizing 4 of state duties and public services, especially in health care, education and social services, which up until then were areas dominated by non-profit organizations through their indirect (e.g. tax allowances) or direct (subventions) supports, and also through their so-called outsourced services. According to Lester Salamon, the government can, in the welfare state, take a controlling and a financing role in providing welfare services, and can act as the producer of services. In the USA as a welfare state, the government rather takes the function of controlling, where it relies on external service providers to fulfill governmental tasks (Salamon, L. 1991: 62). Salamon calls the ensuing network of relationships a ‘third party government,’ by which he means that both the spending of public funds and the provision of public services takes place with the involvement of external service providers. These external service providers are often private and non-profit organizations (Bartal, 2005: 85).
2. PUBLIC SERVICES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN HUNGARY
After the democratic change of regime in Hungary, the country had to cope with the economic crisis inherited from the pre-1990 period, the transformation to market economy along with the introduction of a democratic institutional system, which put a huge burden on the country. This process constituted the framework for the modernization of the public sector, which proved to be even more difficult as the task was not to modify the regulatory system of the public sector and market economy but rather to establish it first – in accordance with democratic principles. From this point of view, the reform of public sector in Hungary, as claimed by Gábor Zupkó and Tamás M. Horváth, has taken (or took) place in two steps. Firstly, institutions and laws necessary for a democratic public administration had to be created (1989 to beginning of 1990’s). The transformation of public administration and legislation aimed at eliminating the accumulated democratic deficiency of the past years, and it most often lacked the organizational and managerial elements serving pragmatism and the efficient delivery of public services. The second step was to implement the reforms aiming at improving the efficiency of public sector as well as the quality of public services, which is comparable to the pressing challenges in the public sectors of the 70’s and 80’s western countries faced. It became clear that society’s expectations towards public services are the same as in the developed countries (Zupkó, 2002: 104; Horváth, 2002: 89).
Modernization of the public sector in Hungary – which, because of the afore-mentioned, is significantly delayed in comparison to western countries as it could only start after the change of regime – has been characterized by the different forms of privatization and decentralization (devolution) up until now. Privatization, however, is not as extensive as in the UK (e.g. it is not compulsory for local governments). As for decentralization, there is an
2 This is nothing but a special case of market failure when customers do not have complete information to make their consumer decisions.
3 Based on COS data (2004), around two-thirds of non-profit organizations had volunteers, their number close to half a million.
4 The possibilities of it are interpreted by T. M. Horváth in various ways. In a broader sense, it can be understood as the renouncement of a public duty (privatizing and the withdrawal of government); the separation of responsibility for services and their actual provision (by way of outsourcing); compulsory payment for public services. In a narrower sense, the following arguments can be mentioned: influence to stimulate competition (tax reductions, savings), efficiency based on incentive systems and ideological arguments (Horváth, 2005: 44-45).
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING
LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICES IN HUNGARY
ongoing debate whether the efficient delivery of extensively outsourced competences is not hampered by the loosely organized municipal system or the lack of control mechanisms.
It is clear from the data that the rate of local governmental spending compared to GDP continuously decreases, 5 while there shows no significant reduction of tasks. 6 As these data suggest, retaining the quality of local services could only be achieved by the involvement of new resources in the local governments. This was made
It is clear from the data that the rate of local governmental spending compared to GDP continuously decreases, 5 while there shows no significant reduction of tasks. 6 As these data suggest, retaining the quality of local services could only be achieved by the involvement of new resources in the local governments. This was made