Intergovernmental Relations in Flanders: What Can Be Learned from the Financial Support to Flemish Local Governments During COVID-19?

Abstract

This book chapter offers an analysis of the financial dimension of the intergovernmental relations between the regional Flemish governments and the local governments during the COVID-19 crisis. By examining the formal legal framework of the 22 COVID-19 grant programs that the regional government distributed, we deconstructed the political choices that were made during the crisis. Our analysis shows that a large majority of the schemes was designed as conditional grants that were predominantly criteria-based. This is in contrast with the period 2014–2019, when a clear tendency to more unconditional grants was present. Yet, the ministerial decrees’ explanatory sections revealed that relying on existing conditional funding schemes and distribution criteria was a rather pragmatic option to strengthen local financial resilience in an adequate and timely manner. Though decisions on which grant schemes to install and how to distribute them were highly centralized at the regional level, no tensions were reported between the distributing and receiving authorities. Moreover, the fact that local governments responded to the crisis challenges in a highly effective way, was mentioned as one of the major rationales to increase decentralization initiatives in the years to come. We therefore conclude that the financial intergovernmental relation between the Flemish regional level and the local level should be classified as an example of a centralized governance process, but not as a conflicted one, in which the COVID-19 crisis could not have altered the policy trend towards more decentralization.