THE EFFECTS OF THE EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS ON THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE: ANALYSIS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES 2010-2015 TERM

Economic crises are an important research topic for economists as a more common phenomenon in the last century. Also, economic crises have negative effects on the macroeconomic parameters of countries. One of these negative effects is on the financial structure of local governments. The deterioration in the financial structures of local administrations as the public institutions serving the citizens closest to them is an issue that needs to be evaluated. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of the economic crises which have negative macroeconomic effects on the finances of local governments of fifteen countries. In order to make this determination, the “European Debt Crisis” was chosen as an example and negative transformation was observed in the local government budgets between the years 2010-2015, when the crisis in Europe was the most intense. As a result, it was determined that there was contraction in the revenues and expenditures of local governments of these countries and they were seriously affected by the economic crises and various suggestions were made about what sho der to make the local governments less affected by the crises.