OVERVIEW ON FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION IN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

The architecture of fiscal decentralization in the European Union countries is diverse due different historical perspectives and different needs. The paper will try to provide an overall survey on the design of fiscal decentralization in the landscape of the 28th countries of European Union taking into account theoretical aspects and empirical evidences and to propose some policy recommendations to strengthen the fiscal role and performance of local governments in the EU countries. We estimate the analysis to offer us a new viewpoint on the architecture of fiscal decentralization in EU-28 with positive aspects that define sustainable local public finances, but also aspects that require new solutions and fiscal policy options. This research paper can be considered a useful viewpoint in understanding the complexity of financial decentralization, being an addition to the existing literature on the field of local public finances.