Given the Romanian state's limited financial capacity to sustain current public administration spending, the reform provides a timely opportunity to address long-standing inefficiencies, conveyed Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on Tuesday, at consultations with representatives of local government associations regarding the proposed administrative reform.
According to a government press release, the prime minister, alongside Deputy Prime Minister Tánczos Barna and Minister of Development, Public Works, and Administration, Cseke Attila, continued consultations on Tuesday with representatives of local public administration associations. The talks focused on a package of reforms currently in an advanced drafting stage at the governmental level.
"The Romanian state can no longer financially sustain the current level of public administration spending. We now have the opportunity, through local administrative reform, to correct these imbalances. We will continue consultations in order to gave a set of measures approve that will reduce public spending while improving services for citizens," Ilie Bolojan stated, as quoted in the release.
During the working meeting at Victoria Palace of Government, several proposals were analyzed, including measures to reduce public spending by cutting the number of employees in town halls, local and county councils; introducing a single salary grid for local public administration; and increasing accountability and performance standards in the civil service, reads the cited source.
Another proposal under review refers to limiting the number of local police officers and avoiding the overlap of responsibilities between Local Police and the National Police, the release further reads.
"Discussions also focused on the reform of property taxation and its impact at the community level, considering that this reform represents a milestone assumed by Romania under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRRP)," the release notes.
The agenda also included topics such as the transfer of assets to local governments and the decentralization of gambling license authorization.
Representatives of the National Union of County Councils, the Association of Municipalities, the Association of Towns, and the Association of Communes presented their proposals regarding the local administration reform package, as well as feedback on specific local issues.
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