Moldovan PM says local public administration reform necessary, even though unpopular

The reorganization of the 32 districts into three regions – North, Centre and South – and consolidating mayor’s offices are the main directions of the local public administration reform promoted by the government. Prime Minister Vasile Tofan today made statements to this effect. While presenting the results of the cabinet’s first 100 days in office, he said that the reform was necessary, in order to enhance the capacity of local administrations to manage projects and attract European funds.

The PM noted that Moldova has almost 900 mayor’s offices and 32 districts, while the country’s population is declining. According to him, many small local public administrations do not have the specialists needed to manage their institutions’ activities efficiently and take advantage of funding opportunities.

“Many small administrations do not have an engineer, a lawyer, a procurement specialist or someone who can prepare a European project. That is not genuine autonomy. A mayor’s office without people and capacity cannot make use of the opportunities available to it,” Vasile Tofan said.

The prime minister said that the government had ruled to directly address the reorganization of the second tier of public administration, proposing the reorganization of the 32 districts into three regions – North, Centre and South.

“We have advanced the local public administration reform. (...) We want to consolidate town halls, and we have pursued this reform, despite resistance and despite the fact that it is unpopular. We chose to directly address the second tier of administration, the districts. We proposed reorganizing the 32 districts into three regions – North, Centre and South,” the PM said.

According to Tofan, the reform was postponed by previous governments, including because of the political difficulties it entails, especially as local elections near. The current government decided to promote it at this stage, despite the complexity of the process.

“It is a reform that successive governments have postponed, partly because it is politically difficult, especially as local elections are nearing. We ruled to put it on the table now, not because it is simple – it is complicated – but because it is necessary,” the prime minister stressed.

Vasile Tofan emphasized that administrative reorganization must not result in public services being moved farther away from citizens. In the vision presented by the PM, mayor’s offices should have greater administrative capacity, service counters should remain accessible in local communities, while the regional level should manage large-scale projects, development and investment coordination.

“Services must not be moved away from people. On the contrary, mayor’s offices must become stronger, service counters must remain close to citizens, while the regional level should handle major projects, development, European funds and coordination, rather than duplicating local administration in such a small country,” Vasile Tofan said.

Prime Minister Vasile Tofan today held a news conference at the government’s headquarters to present the activity report for his first 100 days in office. The document brings together 182 results, decisions and actions completed or initiated by the cabinet, aimed at accelerating structural reforms, stimulating investments, modernizing infrastructure and advancing negotiations on accession to the European Union, amid regional economic and security challenges.