The local public authorities (LPAs) do not adequately react to the impact of the policy pursued by the government and thus many problems become worse and cannot be solved, development consultant Natalia Catrinescu told a roundtable meeting, Info-Prim Neo reports. The introduction of the zero tax on the companies' reinvested profit led to a considerable decrease in the revenues collected into the local budgets, but the LPAs expressed this opinion only after the fiscal reform was implemented. “The local public authorities did not protest vehemently when the visa regime for Romania travelers was introduced, but this decision seriously affected the local communities as they were deprived of the possibility of participating in crossborder projects and their competitive advantages diminished significantly compared with those of Ukrainian LPAs. When the Ministry of Finance ordered that the local budget expenditures be cut by 20% without amending the law on the budget {(i.e. ilegally – Info-Prim Neo note)}, the local authorities did not appropriately react. My conclusion is that the LPAs must develop the cooperation with the central authorities and show greater initiative,” Catrinescu said. According to Natalia Catrinescu, it is not easy to achieve this objective when the LPAs do not have the necessary financial resources. She considers that the local public authorities should actively participate in crossborder cooperation programs financed by foreign donors. These programs cultivate responsibility as the LPAs can initiate community projects without the consent of the central authorities. “I want to say that the committee that selects community projects includes persons from the central authorities and the LPAs should monitor the situation, seek transparency and ask for explanations why some of the projects were rejected,” the consultant said. She also made recommendations as regards the tackling of problems resulting from budget reductions. “When there are fewer resources, the strategic planning becomes more important and money should be first of all allocated for vital necessities, depending on the priorities,” Natalia Catrinescu stressed.