Municipalities and cities of Serbia
Administrative unit of Serbia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The municipalities and cities (Serbian: општине и градови / opštine i gradovi) are the first-level administrative division and the basic level of local government of Serbia.[1][2] The country is divided into 145 municipalities and 29 cities.[3][4]
- 29 January 1992
| Municipalities and cities of Serbia Општине и градови Србије Opštine i gradovi Srbije | |
|---|---|
Municipalities and cities of Serbia | |
| Category | Unitary state |
| Location | Serbia |
| Created by | Law on territorial organisation of the Republic of Serbia |
| Created |
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| Number | 145 municipalities + 29 cities 117 municipalities + 28 cities (de facto, excluding Kosovo) |
| Populations | 1,063 (Crna Trava) – 1,681,405 (Belgrade) |
| Areas | 2.87 km2 (1.11 sq mi) (Vračar) – 3,235 km2 (1,249 sq mi) (Belgrade) |
| Government |
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| Subdivisions |
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Municipalities and cities form 29 administrative districts, except the City of Belgrade which is not part of any district.
Municipalities
Like in many other countries, municipalities (Serbian: општине / opštine) are the basic entities of local government in Serbia. The head of the municipality is the President of the municipality, while the executive power is held by the Municipal council, and legislative power by the Municipal assembly. The municipal assembly is elected on local elections (held every 4 years), while the President and the Council are elected by the Assembly. Municipalities have their own property (including public service companies) and budget. Only the cities officially have mayors (Serbian: градоначелници / gradonačelnici), although the municipal presidents are often informally referred to as such.
The territory of a municipality is composed of a town (seat of the municipality) and surrounding villages (e.g. the territory of the Municipality of Čoka is composed of the town of Čoka, which is the seat of the municipality, and surrounding villages). The municipality bears the name of the seat town.
Advocates of reform of local self-government system point out that Serbian municipalities are the largest in Europe by territory and as such can be inefficient in handling citizens' needs and distributing the income from the country budget into most relevant projects.[5][6]
The largest municipalitity by population is Stara Pazova (62,318).[7]
List of municipalities
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Cities
Cities (Serbian: градови, romanized: gradovi) are another type of local self-government. The territory with the city status usually has more than 50,000 inhabitants (although there are several cities with population smaller than that), but is otherwise very similar to a municipality.[1] There are 29 cities, each having an assembly and budget of its own. Only the cities have mayors (Serbian: градоначелници, romanized: gradonačelnici), although the presidents of the municipalities are often referred to as "mayors" in everyday usage.
As with a municipality, the territory of a city is composed of a city proper and surrounding villages (e.g. the territory of the City of Subotica is composed of the Subotica town and surrounding villages). Every city (and municipality) is part of an administrative district. The exception is the capital Belgrade, which is not part of any district.[10]
The city may or may not be divided into city municipalities (Serbian: градске општине, romanized: gradske opštine). Six cities: Belgrade, Niš, Požarevac, Užice, and Vranje comprise several city municipalities. Competences of cities and these municipalities are divided. The municipalities of these cities also have their assemblies and other prerogatives.
The largest city municipalitity by population is New Belgrade (209,763).[7]
List of cities
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Municipalities of Kosovo
Serbian law still treats Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia (officially the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija), although the United Nations administration (UNMIK) has established a new territorial organization of that territory. The Law on Territorial Organization defines 28 municipalities and 1 city on the territory of Kosovo.[1] In 2000 the municipality of Gora was merged with Opolje (part of the Municipality of Prizren) into the new municipality of Dragaš and one new municipality was created: Mališevo. Later, from 2005 to 2008, seven new municipalities were created: Gračanica, Elez Han, Junik, Parteš, Klokot, Ranilug and Mamuša.[11] However, the Government of Serbia does not recognise the territorial re-organisation of Kosovo, although some of these new-formed municipalities have Serb majority, and some Serbs participate in local elections. In three of those municipalities: Gračanica, Klokot-Vrbovac and Ranilug, Serbian parties won a majority in the 2009 elections.[12][13]
By the 2013 Brussels Agreement, Serbia agreed to disband its parallel municipal institutions in Kosovo, while the authorities of Kosovo agreed on creation of the Community of Serb Municipalities. However, both parties acted slowly to put this agreement in power.[14][15]