Decentralization reform will produce first results next year

The first results of the decentralization reform will be felt in 2012 and 2013, said Adrian Ionescu, main technical consultant of the Joint Integrated Local Development Program (JILDP), quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to Ionescu, the broad participation in the process of drafting and discussing the decentralization strategy (the public debates on the document closed last week) confirms this. The discussions involved representatives of the central and local public authorities and civil society, the partners of the JILDP, including the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova, and the National Participation Council. “The participants in the public debates said the seven priorities of the decentralization reform meet their expectations as regards the strengthening of the local public administration. There were set out objections about the implementation of internal audit in the local public administration and submitted a series of proposals concerning the status of Chisinau municipality. Together with the State Chancellery, a questionnaire was distributed within the Joint Integrated Local Development Program among the representatives of the local public authorities, who will write their opinions about the document. These opinions will be taken into account when designing the final decentralization strategy that is to be approved by the Government,” said Adrian Ionescu. According to the consultant, the decentralization strategy will be implemented during several years. The experience of other countries shows that the objective of strengthening local autonomy can be achieved in stages. “The new law on local public finances is now being discussed. Besides specifying the amounts that will be transferred to the local budgets from the state budget, the law will also stipulate methods of stimulating the local public authorities to identify possibilities of increasing the revenues collected into the local budgets. Next spring at the latest, the local authorities will be able to provide more services for the population,” said the expert. Adrian Ionescu also said that the improved access to services of a high quality depends greatly on the economic development of the country as many of the services require an appropriate infrastructure – good roads, sewerage systems, etc. “There are yet no resources, but the state will address this problem when it manages to collect more incomes. I think there should be set a national quality standard for these services,” he stated. The Joint Integrated Local Development Program supports the Government of Moldova in its decentralization efforts and in the process of strengthening local autonomy. It is implemented with the assistance of the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), with financial support from the Swedish Government.