Moldovan government's secretary general says cabinet plans to visit each district to discuss how strong mayoralties can be built for developed localities

We plan to visit every district; to talk and see how we can together build strong mayoralties for developed localities and better services for citizens. Secretary General of the Government Alexei Buzu today made statements to this effect, in the context of public consultations on the public administration reform.

‘’It is clear for everyone that this reform is necessary, that we need strong mayoralties to accelerate local and regional development for our citizens. So far, we have consulted over 3,200 local elected officials in our country. Our colleagues from the government and from the State Chancellery have visited more than 20 districts and we plan to visit every district, to talk, to listen, to see how together we can build strong mayoralties for developed settlements and better services for citizens,” said Alexei Buzu.

According to the official, the reform concept will be drafted following extensive consultations with all stakeholders. At the same time, Alexei Buzu said that, so far, more than 400 mayoralties had got involved in a process of voluntary amalgamation.

“Every day we see decisions to initiate the process of voluntary amalgamation. I have said many times – the Government does not have all solutions. That is why, we opt for and encourage voluntary amalgamation, when local elected officials and citizens negotiate and decide the future of a mayoralty, set priorities and ensure that in this way they will solve their citizens’ problems much faster,” noted the secretary general of the government.

He denounced false claims according to which “villages will be abolished”, stressing that, on the contrary, they would develop.

“It is an absolute falsehood and a lack of respect for citizens to say that villages will be abolished. Villages will develop. No one is attacking the identity of villages. I live in a village; I know how important this is. We are talking about the administrative center, about making sure that we truly have a strong mayoralty and we will bring services closer to citizens,” Buzu noted.

At the same time, the secretary general of the government underlined that there is no obligation to organize a referendum when a process of amalgamation is being considered, consultations alone being mandatory.

“There is no obligation to organize a referendum when we have an amalgamation process, whatever it may be. This obligation does not exist; there is only the obligation to consult. Beyond constitutional and legal obligations, we believe that this reform must belong to everyone – to the government, to politicians and, in particular, to local elected officials and localities. We have discussed with our colleagues from the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM). I believe they have certain proposals, but we must understand: in Moldova, we cannot have development in a mayoralty where there are three or four specialists, where the number of citizens is small and declining. We must join forces, we must unite teams, we must pool resources, so that we are capable of solving our citizens’ problems,” said Alexei Buzu.

In late last January, the government officially announced the launch of the preparation process for the local public administration reform, as part of broader efforts to modernize the administration and improve the quality of public services provided to the population.

After the consultations are completed, the draft concept for the local public administration reform will be developed. Subsequently, all technical aspects of the reform will be finalized and in next autumn the draft laws are to be presented in   parliament.