Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița said the executive does not consider the territorial-administrative reform a priority as long as there is no broad consensus on the issue in society. The government in the election campaign didn’t promise to do the territorial-administrative reform and it will therefore center on issues for which it obtained the people’s mandate, namely the justice sector reform and the improvement of the quality of life, IPN reports.

Premier Gavrilița said the Executive now is not preoccupied with the territorial-administrative reform as it set other objectives. Such a sensitive issue should be treated with maximum responsibility. The decision about an eventual liquidation of districts should be agreed with the political players and with representatives of local public authorities.

“This wasn’t a priority issue in the elections and the Government considers there are now more important problems, such as the augmentation of people’s incomes, creation of jobs, investments in infrastructure, the justice sector reform. This is what the citizens mandated us to do and we focus on these subjects. Meanwhile, we will work on analyses, calculations,” Natalia Gavrilița stated in the talk show “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.

Even if many of the representatives of PAS repeatedly said that the territorial-administrative reform should be done until the end of the local general elections of 2023, the Premier made it clear that this process necessitates more time.

“Any reform of this kind should be broadly discussed. There should be social consensus. All the political forces should come to terms. Such reforms had been politicized for too long. They weren’t understood by the citizens and weren’t supported by them. That’s why we should focus on the priorities and should meanwhile prepare this social consensus. Only later we will be able to come up with relevant proposals,” stated the official.

Earlier, Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu said that 2023 is the time limit for doing the territorial-administrative reform. The subject will be on the government’s political agenda in 2022. If the reform is not done until the local elections of 2023, its implementation will be delayed for four years, until the terms in office of the local elected officials expire.