The process of merging municipalities must be accompanied by a broad dialogue with society and clear guarantees that decisions are made without political pressure. This opinion belongs to the former head of the Center for Reform Implementation, Iurie Ciocan, and was expressed during the public debate “Local Public Administration Reform and European Integration: Necessity, Effectiveness and the European Path”, organized by the IPN News Agency. According to Iurie Ciocan, reports from several localities raise questions about the voluntary nature of the merger process.
Iurie Ciocan stated that the Government must choose between assuming a clear formula for administrative reorganization and granting real freedom to local communities to decide on their future.
“From the information coming from the territory, the amalgamation is not necessarily voluntary. Either the Government takes responsibility and offers the country the new administrative map and the debates begin with possible changes, or the Government offers people total freedom to decide for themselves, without pressure from the Government’s representative in the territory or from the deputies. There are cases when even the forces of power intervene and tell people how to decide on the amalgamation”, explained Iurie Ciocan.
The former head of the Center for the Implementation of Reforms drew attention to the fact that a reform of such magnitude cannot be successful without extensive consultations and without taking into consideration the arguments put forward by all political forces.
“Let’s bring the whole society to dialogue. Obviously, we will never reach absolute consensus, but when only one parliamentary party supports the reform, and the other parties are against it, we have a problem. Sometimes very pertinent arguments come from the opposition that must be taken into account”, stated Iurie Ciocan.
He provided examples of interventions by representatives of the central authorities in the decision-making process at the local level. According to him, such situations affect citizens’ confidence in the APL reform.
“I know specific situations when in the village councils of some localities, there have been three instances when people voluntarily decided to amalgamate, and then the deputy responsible for that district would come and tell the people how they should amalgamate. Subsequently, the representative of the State Chancellery would come and say that the deputy is wrong and the amalgamation should take place in reverse. Such cases do not strengthen the credibility of this reform at all”, said the former head of the Center for the Implementation of Reforms.
Disclaimer: This material was prepared by the IPN News Agency as part of the “Local Public Administration Reform Through Dialogue” project, funded by the Ministry of Culture through the Media Grant Fund.
