The Congress of Local Authorities, the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives Viitorul and Promo-LEX are creating a coalition to advance decentralization and consolidation of local autonomy. The partners aim to expand the revenue base of local authorities and advocate for subsidiarity.
During a press conference on this occasion, Igor Munteanu, of IDIS Viitorul, underlined that the population is decreasing. The standard of living of the population is strongly affected by the challenges we are going through. At the same time, economic stagnation in certain areas will undoubtedly have an impact on local budgets. “We need to show that all levels of government are working towards the overall goal of bringing European standards closer to us”, Igor Munteanu. According to him, the coalition will create incentives to break the deadlock. The goal will be to mobilize the interests of local authorities, civil society, academia and other platforms to finalize the transition to a decentralized, efficient government that is close to the needs of the local population.
Nicolae Panfil, Promo-LEX program director, said that the coalition partners will have a “proactive contribution”. “We aim to produce several studies, analyses, policy papers that we will present and discuss publicly. We will organize discussions, public debates in the provinces, but also at the central level, through the media, with different actors to identify the solutions for reform and we will develop various information materials, support materials for these advocacy activities to reach as many people as possible. Today the word ‘reform’ is often frowned upon and things must be formulated clearly, in a plain language, in order to showcase the concrete advantages that will exist as a result of this reform”, said Nicolae Panfil.
Viorel Furdui, executive director of the Congress of Local Authorities, said that the main goal of the coalition is to build and activate a wide platform of discussions on decentralization and local autonomy, which “is long overdue in Moldova”. Through this platform there will be created a “system of central and local public administration that is sustainable and in accordance with all standards to ensure the citizens of the Republic of Moldova with services of appropriate quality”.
Veaceslav Ioniță, expert with IDIS Viitorul, said that the experts of the platform come to the aid of the authorities so that they respond adequately to the citizens' requests. "So, if we look closely, the citizens of Moldova send strong signals which, if we do not hear them, is a problem. We are going through a second wave of migration, when people leave due to the lack of quality life”, the expert remarked, adding that we have both migration from the Republic of Moldova abroad and strong migration inside the country.
