Crisis Management in Regional and Local Development (The Case of Slovakia)

Crisis management in Slovakia is structured hierarchically. At the highest level, there is crisis management at the level of the Government of the Slovak Republic and ministries. This takes place at the level of the Security Council of the Slovak Republic and the Central Crisis Staff. The Security Council of the Slovak Republic is under the authority of the Government of the Slovak Republic, and the Central Crisis Staff is under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior. Subsequently, there are crisis staffs operating at the level of regions, districts. The Slovak Republic is divided into eight regions and seventy-six districts. However, the system of public administration is complex, which is reflected in the crisis management. It works as two independent components. The state administration operates at the level of the government, district authorities. At the regional level, the state administration was abolished which causes big problems, in particular in the organization of crisis management at this level. The role of the regional offices has been taken over by district offices in the seats of the regional cities. If there is a crisis situation which exceeds the level of a district, it is resolved by the district authorities in the seats of the regional cities. The leading officials of the district offices are appointed by the Government, and therefore compatibility of operation of security councils and emergency staffs at the central level as well as at the lower levels of state administration is ensured. Nevertheless, the problem is in the system of crisis management at the level of self-government. There are directly elected mayors and members of parliaments at the local level. However, as opposed to the state administration, self-government remains preserved at the regional level. There is a self-government body in each region, the higher territorial unit. At its head, there is a directly elected the Chairman of the self-governing region, and each region has its own members of parliament as well. Since these are directly elected officials, their mandate is very strong and often they do not feel a hierarchical subordination to other public authorities. And this also applies to crisis management. Self-government authorities do not create security councils, but have their own crisis staffs. The cooperation at the district level works without too much trouble, because the resolution of a crisis situation is under the responsibility of the mayor. If a crisis event exceeds the scope of a municipality or a community, the district's Security Council assumes responsibility. The situation does not produce any conflict situations, because the legislation in force in the Slovak Republic restricts the powers of mayors exclusively to the territory of their municipality.