Even if the European integration desideratum is a national objective, there is no clear, comprehensible plan how this goal can be achieved and what role is played by the local public authorities in this regard, expert of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) Stanislav Giletski stated in a public debate held by IPN.

The expert noted that the LPAs should have the necessary duties and power so as to be able to lend a hand to the Europeanization process if real transformation is wanted. There is no yet clear-cut country project how the Republic of Moldova can achieve particular objectives in the process of joining the EU and how the local public authorities can be involved in the reform processes to a greater extent.

“The blame is also borne by the government as that synergy wasn’t ensured. All these priorities we set can be achieved by common efforts. The lack of view at the central level evidently can be felt at the local level. When the priorities at the central level aren’t clear, at the local level it is evidently harder to correlate and align the own planning or public policy documents to these documents,” said Stanislav Giletski, noting the central authorities should clearly set two-three priority areas.

The expert stated that decentralization is one of the main elements in shaping a country view, but this element is still not understood and there is no decentralization view to go on and implement this step. A consensus should be reached so that the local authorities have the necessary duties and functions and financial capacity.

“For Europeanization to become irreversible, we must transfer it to the local level. At the local level, this means greater economic development rather than the aligning with the Community acquis. We can say that we have legislation that is adjusted to all our needs,” opined the IPRE expert.

The public debate entitled “Local elections in the context of European course” was staged by IPN News Agency in the framework of the project “Stimulation of discussion in the mass media about traditional particularities of local elections and the need for Europeanization” which is supported by Soros Foundation Moldova.