The problems of local authorities were discussed last week during the meeting of the Joint Commission on Decentralization. CALM is indignant that local and regional development issues are not mentioned as priorities in this important document. This is despite the fact that the majority of EU legislation and commitments (about 70%) are directly relevant and will be implemented by local authorities.
The president of the organization, the mayor of the village Selemet, Cimislia district, Tatiana Badan, called for finding a formula, according to which the local development will take its rightful place in the document. In this context, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said that most of the resources envisaged in the Economic Growth Plan will be allocated to local development in one form or another. Nevertheless, he promised that a possibility will be found to ensure the inclusion of decentralization and local development in the Plan.
Another issue was the need to change the discriminatory approach to administrative-territorial units with a population of less than 1,500. The mayors propose to change the current approach, which places restrictions and barriers to access to funds for small settlements. Such a principle is unfair and sends a negative message to the residents of these villages. And they constitute more than 53% of all settlements in Moldova. It is necessary to put all mayoralties, regardless of the number of inhabitants, in equal conditions. Let them decide for themselves, depending on the available resources, whether they can afford to participate in the projects. Especially since in other countries small settlements receive additional support from the state.
They also talked about the need to expand the program “Europe Next Door 2025”, as well as to ease the conditions for participation in it. Recall that in early April, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development announced the launch of the program. It was included in the state budget for 2025 during its recent adjustment. The amount of funds “Europe near 2025” amounts to 500 million lei. The authorities expect to use it to build and modernize about 130 km of local roads and sidewalks in 100 localities in the country.
The program is to be implemented by the end of this year. The financing will be provided through the National Fund for Regional and Local Development. According to the procedure, mayoralties submit applications for funding, and after their evaluation, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development draws up a list of projects prioritized for funding. Then they must be approved by the National Coordinating Council for Regional and Local Development and approved by the Government.
