The relations between central state and subnational authorities (SNAs) being both the regions and municipalities have been largely studied from different perspectives such as the theory of federalism, Multilevel Governance (MLG) or Europeanisation. Yet very few studies have examined the role the SNAs have in influencing the outcomes of the process of negotiating and drafting bills by the central government. By means of the regulatory laws – not necessarily directly related to the scope of competencies of the regional or municipal authorities – the central ministries have a discreet power to shape and form central-local and central-regional level relationship. As a result, laws can impose bureaucratic, financial or functional burdens to the local and regional authorities. Laws (statutes) are thus the prime instrument of implementing policy goals, and it is in the vital interest of SNAs to turn the negotiated bill to their advantage.
Our paper aims to analyse the interaction between central ministerial technocrats and the representatives of the SNAs in the Czech Republic. We examine drafting process and negotiation of all the bills in the Czech Republic between 2010 and 2016 that have been commented and remarked by the SNAs. The papers combine both quantitative and qualitative approach. Base on large-N analysis of 20 624 proposed comments and remarks to the drafted bills, we see variation in how much the SNAs are proposing those as well as the variance in how the central ministerial bureaucrats are accepting the amendments. Our research questions are: what factors influence the number of comments the SNAs propose? What are the determinants of SNA`s success in proposing comments that have been accepted by the central ministries? Preliminary results show that the more active are those regions with larger personal and financial capacity; the incongruent political formations between national and regional levels of governments, and SNAs located in regions of high social capital. Regarding the success rate, the central ministries accepted 48 % comments, 22 % were not accepted, and 30 % were “explained”. The results show that Czech SNAs are quite capable to affect the process of drafting bills on the central level in the pre-legislative phase. As a single case study serves the bill on the tax shared formula (RUD) which was one of the historical accomplishment of SNAs because it increased their budget.
