Localities that initiated voluntary amalgamation are to finalize necessary procedures during August

Localities that have initiated the process of voluntary amalgamation and have not yet adopted the final decisions are to finalize the necessary procedures during August. The clarification was made today by Secretary General of the Government Alexei Buzu, who noted that the localities involved in the process will benefit from development incentives.

"I reiterate the message for the local elected officials who have initiated the process of voluntary amalgamation – they have the month of August to finalize this, to sit down at the negotiating table, to make decisions that are, as we understand, complicated but absolutely important for the well-being of the localities they represent," said Alexei Buzu after today’s Government meeting.

The Government has announced that it will make available to the town halls that complete the process of voluntary amalgamation an incentive package with a total value of 6.5 billion lei.

"This budget is for the development of our communities. We want to bring quality infrastructure and adequate services to all our citizens," said Alexei Buzu.

According to him, the funds needed for Incentive I are provided for in the 2026 budget. At the same time, the resources for Incentive II will be budgeted for next year and will be managed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Alexei Buzu emphasized that a large part of these resources comes from the EU Growth Plan.

"We have reform measures. We are implementing them. For each reform measure we have agreed with the EU, the Republic of Moldova receives a sum of money. For the second part of this year, we have 40 reform measures to implement. The tranche for these 40 measures will arrive in February 2027, an amount of over 400 million euros, we estimate, if we carry out all those reform measures. These resources will be used to finance those development projects for the town halls that have amalgamated voluntarily. All local elected officials, as well as citizens, must know: in the town halls that have amalgamated voluntarily these resources will arrive. We have this commitment," he said.

According to information presented by the authorities, 85 percent of the town halls in the Republic of Moldova have initiated the process of voluntary amalgamation, which means 761 town halls out of a total of 890 existing town halls, or 90 percent of the town halls that have a population of fewer than 3,000 inhabitants. For the town halls involved in the process, development projects are to be drawn up regarding the incentives offered by the Government, while in the case of town halls that did not opt for this path, normative amalgamation will follow.

The local public administration reform was launched by the Government at the beginning of 2026 and aims to strengthen the administrative capacity of town halls and improve public services. Localities that choose voluntary amalgamation benefit from increased financial incentives, which will be invested in the development of localities and the strengthening of services for citizens.