Populist and social municipalism

The efficient use of scarce national resources to provide services in an efficient and balanced manner across the country has become the most important agenda item for all nations. In today's world, where rapid change is occurring for various reasons, the sector most affected by this has been local governments, which constitute an important part of the country's public administration system. Therefore, both central and local governments have a role in the production of public services. However, in practice, the economic, social, political, and cultural structures of countries, along with the nature of the services to be provided, play an important role in more effective service delivery and, consequently, in the administrative and financial sharing between central and local governments.

The administrative and financial sharing between the central administration and local government institutions has not been based on a regular foundation to date. Because the central administration undertakes many of the duties of local governments, services of a local nature cannot be fulfilled. In terms of revenue, they also appear to be almost entirely dependent on the center. For this purpose, the administrative and financial sharing between the central administration and local governments must be reorganized by observing rational principles through legislation.

Regarding financial sharing, the principle determined by our Constitution—that local governments be provided with revenue proportional to their duties—has unfortunately not been realized. There is no relationship based on rational principles between the services undertaken by local governments and their resources. Therefore, the sharing of public services and public revenues between central and local governments must be based on impartial and scientific principles.

Local government budgets are documents that show the annual revenues and expenditures of local governments. Through their budgets, local governments determine how they will find resources, how they will provide services based on these resources, and how these resources will be distributed. Therefore, local government budgets are not just a financial plan; they are also an economic and social local development plan. Local government budgets have a distinct importance in terms of directing the economy and determining the financial trajectory. In the global world we live in, the more robust and reliable a budget local governments have, the more solid and strong their place and effectiveness in the national and global economy will be.

- The fundamental vision of CHP municipalities in terms of budgeting should be social municipalism, and their mission should be populism. In this sense, a municipal approach that prevents poverty, corruption, and waste must come to the forefront.

- Municipalities should put forward a budgeting policy that prevents urban poverty, combats the distortion in income distribution, and implements the party's fundamental goal—the manifesto that no child should go to bed hungry—in local governments, thereby showing and making the public feel that this can also be achieved under a central government administration.

- The fundamental problem for municipalities in terms of budgeting is that they take over municipalities with serious financial burdens.

- Municipalities must be successful in reducing these financial burdens.

- A significant performance must be demonstrated in reducing poverty and corruption, which is the fundamental vision of the CHP.

- For the continuation of this financial management success, importance must be given to investment programs and performance aimed at the economic growth and development of the city.

In this context, investments that are large, encouraging, employment-increasing, and prosperity-multiplying with scarce resources should be a priority in budgeting.

- Municipalities should be skilled not only in using resources coming from the center but also in creating their own resources and transferring these resources to social welfare.

Municipalities have the opportunity to finance investments by using credit. For example, according to Article 5393/68, an investment program must be prepared in order to carry out external borrowing and bond issuance.

The fundamental manifesto of social and populist municipalism should be to realize local development, end internal migration, and prevent local unemployment by creating employment as priority goals. Paying off debt is not a skill; the skill is creating employment and multiplying social incentives. If they implement fair and populist distribution locally in the name of populist and social municipalism, and if they grow the party rather than growing themselves, the central government will also come. I made a call before the election. A law on administrative and financial sharing must be enacted very urgently. Otherwise, after a while, wages will become impossible to pay. Municipalities are dependent on the central government for 75-90 percent of their revenue; this situation is a very important risk that needs to be explained correctly.