Government delays local decentralization, local LibDems complain

The local elected authorities of the Moldovan Liberal Democratic Party accuse the government of delaying the process of decentralization in local administration, Info-Prim Neo reports. Mayor Iurie Tap of Floresti told a news conference on Friday that, although Parliament passed decentralization laws under pressure from the European community, the Government has done little to effect reform. “The ruling party doesn't want the local administration and local finances to decentralize; they oppose local autonomy, because this would mean a looser grip on power for them”, Tap argued. “We are compelled to take measures which exceed the powers of a mayor's office and for which we have no financial coverage”, said Tap in a bid to explain another facet of the relationship between the local and the central authorities – the Floresti Town Hall has been recently compelled to give 300,000 lei from the town's coffers to prepare the educational institutions for the cold season, although these should be the concerns of the central administration. In support, Olga Gherman, the mayor of a village in Telenesti district, said that whereas the mayor's office allocated 300,000 lei to prepare the village kindergarten for the 2008/09 school year, the government disbursed only 40,000 lei. Another village mayor, Ion Neagu, said that despite a very scarce budget he had to allocate 50,000 lei to provide the village school with heat. Chisinau municipality also faces serious financial problems, said LibDem city councilor Ghenadie Dumanschi. Since the government kicked off its fiscal liberalization campaign, the municipality has lost an important source of incomes. At the same time, the losses are not compensated, nor the municipality receives any government subsidies, the councilor added. The local authorities representing the Liberal Democratic Party have concluded that the government ties their hands when local money is used for other purposes instead of bringing economic growth and investment at local level.