Local authorities will have another month to finalize voluntary amalgamation procedures and adopt final decisions. The Parliament has approved the extension of the deadline until August 31. Starting from September 1, new voluntary amalgamation processes will no longer be able to be initiated until the first round of the general local elections in 2027, reports IPN.

The amendment was included in the bill on promoting professional ethics and modernizing human resources management in central public administration and amends the Law on the voluntary amalgamation of administrative-territorial units.

The author of the amendment, PAS deputy Ersilia Qatrawi, stated that the extension of the deadline was requested by local public authorities, to allow those who have started the procedures to complete them. “We come, as a request from local public authorities, to extend the date from July 31 to September 1. We give them an additional month for those who have not succeeded,” declared the parliamentarian.

The Vice President of the Parliamentary Commission for Public Administration and Regional Development, Larisa Voloh, clarified that the suspension is temporary and is necessary to avoid the overlap of voluntary amalgamation with the administrative-territorial reform prepared by authorities. Localities that have already begun amalgamation procedures will be able to finalize them by September 1st, but the initiation of new processes will be suspended until the general local elections of 2027.

According to the authors of the amendment, a new administrative-territorial map is set to be approved this fall and implemented alongside the general local elections of 2027. The simultaneous unfolding of these two processes could create uncertainties for local administrations and additional administrative costs.