The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe adopted on 23 March 2023 a Recommendation acknowledging Romania´s progress in strengthening local democracy and calling for a number of improvements.
In the year of the 30th anniversary of Romania’s accession to the Council of Europe, a simple coincidence, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe adopted on 23 March 2023 a Recommendation acknowledging Romania´s progress in strengthening local democracy but also calling for a number of improvements concerning, most notably, the funding of local authorities.
In this 4th report assessing the implementation of the Charter in Romania, the Congress particularly welcomes the progress made by the country in the consultation of the local authorities. It also praises the substantial weight of the local authorities’ sector on public expenditures, the reform of metropolitan areas, the proposals to strengthen cooperation between rural communes and the role of the Court of Accounts in enhancing the efficiency and transparency of the local sector. To address the shortcomings identified, adequate resources would need to be allocated to the local authorities so they can fully exercise their functions, as the transfer of power concerning local public services is not always accompanied by enough funding. There is also a lack of transparency in the allocation of financial resources between the central and local levels of government, which does not allow to meet the real needs of local authorities and leads to local authorities making limited use of their financial autonomy.
The Recommendation calls for improving the measures to prevent political interference at local level and ensure transparent, equitable distribution of resources between central and local levels. To tackle the weakness and fragmentation of the communes in rural areas, the authorities should improve and facilitate voluntary mergers of municipalities and foster inter-municipal cooperation.
In light of its Recommendation on the Status of Capital Cities, the Congress recommends establishing a special autonomy for Bucharest aimed at providing substantial procedural safeguards to guarantee the capital´s city autonomy and minimise the risk of interference from other levels of government.
Regarding local consultation processes, the Romanian authorities are encouraged to comply with the deadlines set up in the legal framework since the government sometimes sets up too short deadlines when consulting associations.
The recommendation was adopted based on the findings of a report on the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government by Romania prepared by rapporteurs March Cools (Belgium, L, ILDG) and David Eray (Switzerland, R, EPP/CCE), assisted by one member of the Group of Independent Experts on the Charter, Prof. Tania Groppi.
The report concludes that Romania´s system of self-government works well and that the country generally fulfils the obligations of the Charter.
Romania signed the European Charter of Local Self-Government on 4 October 1994 and ratified it on 28 January 1998.
The video-interview with the rapporteurs is available here