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The Bucharest Court of Appeal (CAB) holds that the decisions of the General Council of the Bucharest Municipality (CGMB) to set up 22 municipal companies are illegal, because they should have been approved by the vote of two thirds of the total number of local councilors in office and not by simple majority.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal on Tuesday made public the reasoning of its November 22, 2018 ruling that repealed the CGMB decisions on the setting up of the municipal companies, in a lawsuit filed by Save Romania Union (USR) municipal councilor Roxana Wring.
The court argues that the companies set up under the CGMB decisions have various scopes: the production and supply of electricity and heat; energy and maintenance services; performing the necessary activities for the supply of the public lighting service; the management and development of the municipal health facilities infrastructure; civil protection and voluntary activities; information technology services; building, development and management of sports grounds and sports facilities; capitalizing and putting to use tourist landmarks; the management of parks, public gardens and public swimming pools; management of the leisure facilities network; management of the advertising space; maintenance of the wooden stock on the green spaces; ensuring the protection and safety of public and private interest objectives; retrofitting quake-risk buildings; coordination / consulting services for large infrastructure projects; the unitary management of the real estate fund; management of roads and public parking spaces; organizing the local passenger transport.
The magistrates argue that these municipal companies have been set up through the association between CGMB and SC Service Ciclop SA, but the latter is owned by the City Hall and controls only 0.1 percent of the municipal utilities' stake.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal says that the CGMB decisions to set up the municipal companies should have been taken by the vote of two-thirds of the councilors and not by simple majority.
Given that the CGMB decisions were ruled unlawful, the court no longer engaged in considerations on the timeliness of setting up the municipal companies.
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On November 22, 2018, leader of USR Bucharest Roxana Wring, a municipal councilor and a signatory of the court lawsuit, said these companies were "a major managerial and financial failure." She also said that Bucharest General Mayor Gabriela Firea "has backed and pushed through" the establishment of these companies, against the law. AGERPRES .
