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The Association of Romanian Cities (AOR) is calling on the government to comply with the 10-working day term required for consulting associative structures on the draft Government Emergency Ordinance on a set of fiscal-budgetary measures, which has reached the Executive's desk for approval.
"The one-day interval between the notification of the 'Draft OUG on a set of fiscal-budgetary measures, the amendment and supplementation of certain regulatory acts and the extension of certain deadlines' to the Association of Romanian Cities makes it impossible to consult the association members, analyze the proposed measures and assess their consequences, which by successive acts keep in place the extension of certain deadlines and revenue capping at the levels of 2018. Therefore, we can only ask the government to comply with the provisions of Article 86, paragraphs (2) and (3) of Emergency Ordinance No. 57/2019 regarding the Administrative Code, as well as those of Law No. 52 of January 21, 2003 on decision-making transparency in public administration, assuring them of our prompt and honest cooperation," AOR said in a release.
The association, representing 216 small and medium-sized cities, expresses its "desire and openness to dialogue with the central administration", but also emphasizes the importance of complying with the legal provisions of Art. 4, paragraph (6) of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, ratified by Romania in 1997 and transposed into national law by Emergency Ordinance No. 57/2019 regarding the Administrative Code.
According to the cited provisions, the central public administration authorities that initiate a draft regulatory act "are required to consult" the associative structures at least 15 working days before submitting for adoption/approval any draft regulatory act that directly concerns the local public administration and/or which has an impact on local communities. In the case of urgent draft regulatory acts, the term may be reduced to 10 working days.
On Tuesday, the Association of Romanian Municipalities also criticized the government's intention to adopt at the meeting today the emergency ordinance on a set of fiscal-budgetary measures without consulting the administrative structures of the local public administration.
According to the regulatory act blueprint published on Monday on the website of the Ministry of Public Finance, in 2021 the wages and bonuses of public employees will remain the same as in December 2020, the value of the fine point remains 145 lei, and holiday vouchers worth 1,450 lei will further be granted, but will be issued in electronic format only.
The draft also stipulates that the service pensions of certain categories of public servants such as professional civil aviation flight personnel, court specialist auxiliary personnel, lawmakers, members of the Romanian diplomatic and consular corps, shall not be adjusted by the average annual inflation rate, just as state military pensions.
