The financial incentives offered by the state have become the main factor that has led several localities to accept the process of voluntary amalgamation, considered the first step in the APL reform. The statement belongs to the expert of the Center for Policies and Reforms, Dan Nicorici, and was made during the public debate “The reform of local public administration and the amalgamation process – from voluntary to normative”, organized by the IPN Press Agency. According to the expert, in conditions where hundreds of town halls are faced with limited financial resources and reduced administrative capacity, the financial support promised by the Government has encouraged local authorities to opt for amalgamation.

According to the expert, one of the main issues that the reform is trying to solve is the high degree of fragmentation of local public administration, where most town halls manage small communities.

“The local public administration is highly fragmented. We have 892 town halls, of which over 700 have a population of less than 3 thousand inhabitants. This number is well below the European Union average,” explained the Program Director of the Center for Policies and Reforms.

According to him, the current political context represents an opportunity for the implementation of the reform. “We are in the first year after the elections and now there is a window of opportunity when the reform can be done, so that local elections can be organized afterwards. Another argument in favor of the reform is the financial aspect. The administrative capacity of the authorities is far below the necessary minimum. The local public administrations have very few employees who cannot cover their own expenses. Through this reform, the Government comes to support small town halls”, said Dan Nicorici.

Referring to the first clusters of town halls that voluntarily amalgamated, the expert pointed out that the financial support promised by the authorities was the decisive factor that convinced the localities to associate. At the same time, he believes that the experience of these communities will serve as a benchmark for evaluating the results of the reform and for adjusting administrative organization models.

“Municipalities that have voluntarily amalgamated were promised financial incentives, and this was the main driver of the amalgamation. We have two clusters that have already amalgamated: these are Leova and Calinesti, they represent case studies for many analyses,” the expert further said.

Disclaimer: This material was prepared by the IPN Press Agency, within the project “Local Public Administration Reform in Dialogue”, funded by the Ministry of Culture from the Media Subsidy Fund.