Merging and Splitting Municipalities in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

In the conditions of the Slovak Republic, an enactor rates merging and dividing of municipalities as one of the most fundamental possible changes of the municipality area, while their realization is conditioned by strict mechanisms. Merging or dividing of municipalities can be realized only on the basis of a governmental regulation issued on the consent of a concrete municipality and after the district office in the seat of the county, to which the area of the municipality belongs, uttered its attitude. When the municipality agrees, it communicates the opinion of its inhabitans presented in a positive result of a realized municipality referendum. Juridical mode of merging and dividing of Slovak municipalities is determined by the character of Slovak municipality self-government, for which a considerable fragmentation of the municipality self-government is typical. According to the valid legal status both juridical institutions are built on the principle of volunteering, but it has to be stated that in the last years justified requirements for the necessity of involuntary administrative merging of the Slovak municipalities are very often raised while searching for a solution of the problem of the fragmentation of the local self-government. In my opinion the most suitable solution is creating more categories of separate individual municipalities with different levels of adminstrative competence.