Decentralisation in Tunisia: the High Authority of Local Finance is in place

Adopted in 2018, the Local Government Code provides for the creation of a High Authority of Local Finance (HIFL) to promote the financial autonomy of local authorities, modernise local finance and reduce disparities between local authorities. PADGL therefore devotes a major component to supporting the financial framework of decentralisation in Tunisia, which comprises the creation of this High Authority.

The HIFL was officially launched in October 2019 during a seminar in Tunis. “We are witnessing the start of a fundamental pillar of the decentralisation system”, said Faycek Gazzez, a member of the HIFL, on this occasion. “The High Authority represents a real national transformation, focusing on decentralisation. It is an essential link in the social cohesion that AFD is working for in several countries around the world. Decentralisation is unquestionably the link between local communities and national bodies, between voters and elected representatives, between regions, but also between the men and women in a society”, explained Gilles Chausse, AFD’s Director in Tunisia. “It involves co-construction by Tunisian and French peers, meaning between the two shores of the Mediterranean”, he added.

Expertise France, which is responsible for the project implementation, initially organised a study visit to Paris which provided feedback and recommendations for Tunisia’s future High Authority, based on the French local finance model. It subsequently worked on the roadmap for the HIFL to define its internal governance model and its functions in the field of local finance.

Building the HIFL drawing on French experience of local finance

The Ministry of Local Affairs and Environment called on Expertise France to organise a study visit in France. The aim was to gain a better understanding of the local finance practices of French local authorities and public institutions, so that it could subsequently define the operational guidelines for the missions and governance model of the HIFL.

Expertise France consequently built a tailor-made programme, made up of peer-to-peer exchanges and feedback from French actors, in order to meet the expectations of the Tunisian delegation. [1]. In June 2019, the Tunisian delegation met the Local Finance Committee (LFC), the counterpart institution of the HIFL in France, and the State Secretariat for Public Administration and Local Finance. These exchanges strengthened the delegation’s strategic and operational vision of the rules of procedure of the HIFL, its operating methods, data and statistics collection methods and the equalisation calculations of the HIFL.

The meetings with the Seine-Saint-Denis Departmental Council, the Association of French Mayors (AMF) and the Court of Auditors addressed the issues of the financial governance of territories and highlighted the relations, which are sometimes uneven, between local authorities, the LFC and the State.

The importance of involving associations of elected officials and local authorities in budgetary debates was also emphasised, in order to conduct effective advocacy towards the State for local finances and ensure that there is an appropriate distribution of allocations and equalisation funds.

A High Authority now in place

Following the study visit, Expertise France assisted the HIFL with the development of its roadmap based on recommendations and good practices from French experience. The orientations of this roadmap were discussed and validated during a seminar organised in Tunis in mid-October. It also provided the opportunity to officially launch the HIFL and present its members to the Tunisian local authorities and public.

The first day made it possible to create a forum for exchanges and consensus on the HIFL’s missions and present the comparative experiences of local finances of Europe and France. The second day of the seminar allowed a focus group composed of local finance actors [2] to discuss the issues of the organisation and functioning of the HIFL (operating budget, staff regulations, organisation chart, rules of procedure, etc.). For the functional aspect, the discussions focused on the HIFL’s role in strengthening local finances and facilitating the mobilisation of the tax and non-tax resources of local authorities, as well as on the issues of sound local finance management by establishing budget monitoring and control plans.