Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in the functioning of global society. These changes have required quick and effective responses from international institutions, nation and state administrations, individual regions, and municipalities, as well as from individual citizens at the same time. The COVID-19 pandemic required timely responses from all the administrative apparatuses of nation states, including the Republic of North Macedonia. This implies a reaction at the central and local levels. Local self-government units acting within their competences have been active components in overcoming the challenges imposed by the pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on local self-government units in the Republic of North Macedonia. The paper includes an overview of the constitutional and legal framework that governs the position of local self-government units in the country’s political system and provides an analysis of the consequences the pandemic caused at the central level with a special emphasis on the challenges faced by the municipalities in North Macedonia. The primary focus of the paper is how local units have responded to managing the pandemic. The paper provides an overview of the crisis management system that the municipalities built during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic, financial, and budgetary repercussions. The end of the paper synthesizes the conclusions regarding the effects that the pandemic has had on the functioning of the Macedonian local government units and gives recommendations for overcoming the diagnosed shortcomings the pandemic has brought to the surface.

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