The reform of local government in the UTA Gagauzia requires a different approach than the one applied in the rest of the country. The statement belongs to the expert in local public administration, Igor Guseinov, and was made during the public debate “Reform of public administration in the Gagauzia Autonomous Region”, organized by the IPN Press Agency. According to the expert, although the reform is considered necessary in autonomy, currently the voluntary amalgamation procedure cannot be carried out due to the limited functionality of the People’s Assembly.

Igor Guseinov mentioned that the mechanism for implementing reform in autonomy implies an additional stage compared to the rest of the country. After the decision of amalgamation is adopted by the local councils, it must be submitted for review to the People’s Assembly.

“The implementation of the LPA reform at the level of Gagauzia requires a special approach. The procedure is as follows: after the villages, communes, cities, agree on voluntary amalgamation, the decision is taken by the local council. Subsequently, this decision is transmitted to the Popular Assembly”, explained Igor Guseinov.

According to the expert, the main problem is that, under the current conditions, the People’s Assembly cannot adopt legislative acts, which makes the completion of the voluntary amalgamation procedure impossible.

“Currently, the Popular Assembly has limited functionality and cannot pass laws. This is the first challenge that local authorities in autonomy are facing. Now, even if there would be localities within the autonomy that want to merge, legally, this procedure is not possible”, Igor Guseinov further stated.

According to him, the most likely scenario is the maintenance of the current administrative organization in autonomy, given that the first stage of the voluntary amalgamation process has not been utilized by any municipality in Gagauzia.

“There have been discussions between the representatives of the State Chancellery and the mayors of Gagauzia, but it is necessary for many aspects to be discussed with the People’s Assembly as well. However, such discussions have not taken place. Following the discussions we had in autonomy, no one doubts the necessity of reform, but the question arises: in what way? One of the scenarios is that things in autonomy remain as they are. We believe that this scenario is the most likely. And this is because the first stage of voluntary amalgamation, anticipated until July 31, has already been missed by the mayors of Gagauzia”, said Igor Guseinov.

Disclaimer: This material was developed by the IPN Press Agency, within the project “Local Government Reform in Dialogue”, financed by the Ministry of Culture from the Media Subsidy Fund.