Over 90,000 citizens participate in voluntary amalgamation process; Moldovan government's deputy secretary general explains what comes next

The authorities have provided localities with all necessary tools to participate in the voluntary amalgamation process, while communities had the opportunity to decide whom they would merge with, which projects they would implement, and how they would use the financial incentives provided by the government. Deputy Secretary General of the Government Alexandru Iacub made statements to this effect during the „In Context” programme, broadcast on the public television station Moldova1.

„We provided citizens with all necessary tools to proceed with voluntary amalgamation. It was an initiative involving more than 90,000 local residents, local representatives, mayors and a significant part of the population. During the consultations, discussions were held and a voluntary process took place, in which decisions were made about which locality wanted to move forward with which partners, what the future projects would be, what the locality’s vision was for the coming years and where the incentives provided by the Government as a financial booster would be used,” Alexandru Iacub said.

According to the official, voluntary amalgamation involves the provision of more financial incentives meant to support communities that decide to participate in the process.

„We are talking about the initiation incentive, the incentive for voluntary amalgamation itself, which has been increased to 3,000 lei per resident, and the incentive of approximately 2 million lei provided annually until 2030, starting with the next elections,” explained the deputy secretary general of the government.

Alexandru Iacub emphasized that the voluntary amalgamation process gave communities the opportunity to establish their own development priorities and decide which projects would be implemented with the financial support provided by the state.

The voluntary amalgamation process ended on August 31. The next stage is normative amalgamation. This concerns first-level local public administrations with fewer than 3,000 residents.

„Normative amalgamation is the second phase, which leaves it to parliament to decide how local public administration will be organized, specifically the authorities of first-level local public administrations with fewer than 3,000 residents. It is up to parliament, because there needs to be a framework for the reform and the application of the rule in the spirit of solidarity,” Alexandru Iacub specified.

At present, 561 mayors’ offices have adopted final decisions on voluntary amalgamation, representing 63 per cent of all mayors’ offices of Moldova. As much as 65.3 per cent of them have fewer than 3,000 residents.