Abstract
The main aim of the workshop on fiscal federalism and financial relations was to discuss and compare the economic, political and legal frameworks of intergovernmental financial relations in the different states at stake, identifying major elements of criticism and suggesting solutions to cope with major problems. With this purpose in mind, the workshop was structured into three parts. In the first part, the experts provided input by focusing on the definition of fiscal federalism and its foundations in order to provide a common level of understanding for the subsequent discussion. In the second part, each participant presented on his/her country of origin following a common set of questions provided by the experts: 1. What type of arrangements has the country adopted to distribute competences and responsibilities in financial and fiscal matters? 2. Which are the major issues at stake in the current debates on the financial system in your country? 3. What type of institutions does your country have to prevent or settle conflicts in financial matters (composition, role, powers EL)? How do they work or how could they work better? Each presentation was followed by a questions and answers session, in order to identify the major challenges and problems. Finally, in the third part, the discussion aimed at the elaboration of basic guidelines related to the design of intergovernmental financial relations, to be taken into consideration when it comes to any decentralization process.