Moldovan parliament speaker says reform of local public administration must be carried out in next autumn, there is no time to wait

The reform of local public administration must be carried out in next autumn. In this way, we will have one year at our disposal to prepare for the local elections, as provided for by the electoral rules. Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu today made statements to this effect.

The official emphasized that, at present, representatives of the government were holding discussions with mayors about the reform of local public administration.

“We are talking with local elected officials, and I also attend these meetings in the regions. What I have noticed is that everyone understands that this reform is inevitable. Some say it openly, others believe that their mayoralties should become the center of the future conglomeration, and some say we should wait a few more years. I tell them very honestly – we don’t have time to wait, because the next electoral cycle begins in 2027. This means that we must have these sincere discussions about demographic trends, improving the quality of services and more targeted investments in infrastructure. If a conglomerate made up of more mayoralties is created, it is obvious that we must invest in roads, interconnections, create multifunctional centers at village level, and digitalize all services, so that people do not have to go to the district center to benefit from these services,” Igor Grosu stressed.

The speaker also said that all mayors would exercise their mandates until they expire.

“We have time until autumn. We will carry out this reform together. In autumn, the countdown to the local elections begins. Good practices say that there must be one year before the ballot, so that the rules are clear. All mayors will exercise their mandates through to the end. We are carefully analyzing which services we will digitalize, which competences will be transferred to the level of the future districts, and what the mayoralties should be responsible for. All these things are done through consultations,” Igor Grosu noted.

At the end of January, the government officially announced the launch of the preparatory process for the reform of local public administration, as part of efforts to modernize public administration and improve the quality of public services provided to the population.

Secretary General of the Government Alexei Buzu has recently announced that the draft concept for the local public administration reform would be presented at the end of February–beginning of March. Subsequently, all technical aspects of the reform will be finalized and in the autumn of 2026 year the draft laws are to be submitted to parliament.

During the past week, government representatives visited seven districts of Moldova to discuss the reform of local public administration. Thus, between 9–13 February, the cabinet organized public consultations on the local public administration (APL) reform in the districts of Drochia, Soroca, Nisporeni, Floresti, Sangerei, Cantemir and Cahul. During the current week, the meetings continue in the districts of Anenii Noi, Edinet, Donduseni, Rascani, Glodeni, Causeni, Stefan Voda, Hancesti and Ialoveni.

Consultations have been earlier were held with mayors’ organizations – the Congress of Local Authorities from Moldova (CALM) and the Center for European Local Administration (CALE), district presidents, heads of the Territorial Offices of the State Chancellery, development partners, civil society organizations, members of the parliamentary commission for public administration and regional development, parliamentary factions and representatives of extra-parliamentary parties.