The restoration of municipal self-governments in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in the 1990s

Abstract

By 1991 the European Charter of Local Self-Government entered into force in the fifteen member states of the Council of Europe. This European convention set the standards for democratic local self-governments in writing. For the new democracies of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland it was obvious that they had to implement the above model as soon as politically possible. The national municipal government regulations were developed keeping in mind the European Charter of Local Self-Government even before countries became parties to the Charter. A detailed chronicle in this document of the adaptation of national rules to the values enshrined in the Charter will be developed in our next joint article. We will focus on implementing the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government through constitutional and statutory provisions adopted by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.