5.2.1 promote the targeting of social benefits
to ensure that groups in need of special protection receive adequate
assistance, including the possibility of means testing subsidies
and benefits, and support community and home-based care for the
sick and the elderly, so as to relieve some of the pressure on care
institutions;
5.2.2 support the reorganisation of authorities in charge of
service provision with a view to maintaining services while reducing
administrative expenditures;
5.2.3 ensure that local authorities’ good practices in the economic
field, such as the provision of services through municipal enterprises
(technical infrastructures, mutual savings banks, social services)
are not sacrificed to free competition and privatisation applied
out of principle. These services are, and should be, provided in
the most comprehensive manner and at affordable prices through the
local authorities;
5.2.4 encourage inter-municipal co-operation, wherever appropriate,
to make the delivery of local services more effective and efficient;
5.2.5 promote the use of various forms of partnerships, including
public-private partnerships and involvement of the voluntary sector,
to redesign public service provision and delivery without reducing
the accountability of public authorities;
5.2.6 encourage local authorities to optimise the effectiveness
and efficiency of service provision, not least through relevant
training of staff, whilst guaranteeing equal access for all sectors
of the population;
5.2.7 support the efforts already being made by many local governments
to reduce employment costs by means other than redundancies;
5.2.8 promote the principles of transparency and efficiency
in public spending at all levels;
