Authorities encourage voluntary amalgamation: 87% of town halls in Moldova have fewer than 3,000 inhabitants

Speaker Igor Grosu is encouraging local public authorities to take advantage of the voluntary amalgamation process in order to join forces and create stronger, more efficient town halls. He notes that the local public administration reform can no longer be postponed and the year 2026 represents an opportunity for its implementation in the absence of any elections.

Grosu said that this process must be completed by September, one year before the local elections, and the final decision is to be taken no later than October 2026.

At the same time, Igor Grosu emphasized that the reform will be followed by normative amalgamation, noting that “in a town hall with 400 or 500 citizens you cannot provide quality public services.”

“I encourage them to use this opportunity because there are also financial incentives. We are facing a reality. In a town hall with 300–400 citizens, or even with one thousand, you cannot provide services or solve infrastructure problems. You simply cannot, and we are not unique in this. The Ukrainians have carried out amalgamation. So let us be mature and do this now, in 2026, because it is the only year in which we do not have elections, so we can do it calmly, predictably, and decide where the administrative center will be. The town hall office will not disappear anywhere; someone will have to remain there to provide services. We must close this subject and make the final decision no later than October 2026, because a year later, in October–November 2027, we will have general local elections,” Grosu said at Radio Moldova.

Deputy Secretary General of the Government Alexandru Iacub explained that the local public administration reform is necessary to stop the decline of villages and to give communities real chances for development.

“The LPA reform can no longer be postponed if we want to save our villages. About 87% of the town halls in the country administer fewer than 3,000 inhabitants, with a budget that is too small for projects that could improve the standard of living. Postponing the reform essentially means empty villages and ever fewer development opportunities. We cannot postpone solving a problem just because it is complicated. We want strong municipalities and developed localities,” said Alexandru Iacub.

In Ungheni, 32 town halls have chosen to join forces to form several stronger and more efficient municipalities. Ungheni municipality, together with seven other municipalities in the area — Zagarancea, Mănoilești, Valea Mare, Florițoaia Veche, Cetireni, Unțești and Morenii Noi — have decided to form a single administrative entity with the aim of acting in a coordinated way to raise the standard of living of residents.

Secretary General of the Government Alexei Buzu assured that the central authorities will support the process of forming the new administrative-territorial unit and emphasized that the process of voluntary amalgamation among the eight municipalities in Ungheni must be successfully completed for the benefit of more than 38,000 citizens in the 19 localities concerned.

The voluntary amalgamation process is part of a broader nationwide reform. According to the data presented, there are 435 decisions to initiate the amalgamation process, targeting approximately 550 town halls.