The local public authorities (LPAs) enjoy broad autonomy declared by the national legal framework, not yet in practice. Definitely, the central authorities should solve the given problem, suggested the authors of a study of administrative and financial decentralization presented by the Association for Democracy Development “DECID”.

In a news conference at IPN, Veaceslav Berbeca, one of the study authors, said the broad autonomy of the LPAs is limited in practice, especially owing to the own financial resources that  by far do not cover the necessities of the territorial-administrative unit. Most of the LPAs have limited or very limited own financial resources. This does not enable them to provide services of a high quality. According to the legislation, a local public authority is considered viable if the administrative costs do not exceed 30% of all the local revenues. More than 80% of the LPAs do not meet these conditions.

It was ascertained that the transfer of powers cannot be ensured owing to the limited human resources of the LPAs. “The framework concerning the payment of those who work in the local public authorities should be reviewed,” said the study author.

Veaceslav Berbeca noted that the territorial-administrative fragmentation is excessive. There is a mayor’s office, but there are no financial resources and no human resources. This problem should be in the focus of the central public authorities.

“A problem I want to highlight is the excessive pressure exerted through administrative control on the public authorities,” stated Veaceslav Berbeca. According to him, to diminish such actions, the legal framework should be improved.

The study also reveals that the powers and responsibilities of the authorities of the first and second levels overlap and this problem hasn’t been yet solved, but is an important objective for the central authorities. Only this way can different situations of confusion and interpretation that exist at present be eliminated.