For the first time, the Republic of Moldova took over the presidency of the General Assembly of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe (NALAS). In the opening of the annual meeting, President Maia Sandu said the common goal is to build powerful and prosperous communities where the people have employment opportunities, access to centralized water and sewerage systems, health and education services, IPN reports.
“In Southeastern Europe, we most of the times face the same challenges. But we also have similar objectives and common aspirations, namely the coming closer to the family of European nations and creation of European living conditions for our citizens,” stated Maia Sandu, being quoted in a press release of the presidential press service.
She noted that too many citizens leave Moldova in search of a better life. “We want the citizens to remain in the country, while those who left to come back. We know that to achieve such an objective, we must built Europe at home. Our dream is to build European villages and towns here, in Moldova, and I assumed a firm commitment in the election campaign - to assists the local public administration in achieving this objective,” said Maia Sandu.
She also spoke about the actions that must be taken to strengthen the local public authorities in Moldova, mentioning the equitable access to public funding for all the settlements, working out of new assistance mechanism that would offer direct support to the local communities, fiscal de-centralization.
“I strongly believe that an independent and powerful local public administration is an important pillar of democracy. Therefore, I will continue to support the independence of the LPAs and to work to build an independent and responsible justice system and prosecution service. We will continue our efforts to ensure decentralization and to increase the financial independence of the local authorities,” noted Maia Sandu.
