Viorel Furdui
According to CALM executive director Viorel Furdui, “districts have outlived themselves” and no longer conform to modern principles of local government.
“Districts were created in Soviet times for a completely different administrative system, where the center had full control over local authorities. Today we have a different system based on autonomy and decentralization,” Furdui stressed on Realitatea channel.
According to him, the latest reforms, including financial decentralization and the transfer of functions to local mayoralties, have effectively deprived the districts of their main instruments of influence, and therefore there is no point in them.
“The districts now have virtually no resources or authority to manage the territory,” he said.
Instead, CALM proposes “municipalization” – giving all district centers the status of a municipality. This would create a new level of governance that would be more functional and service-oriented for citizens.
“Municipalization means increasing the role of cities. This is important because it is cities that are the centers that are able to provide more citizens with services on their territory. We propose that all cities and district centers be given the status of a municipality, perhaps with some exceptions that can still be discussed. These municipalities will become second-level structures under the Constitution and will be able to replace the existing districts at the first stage. In other words, instead of more than 30 districts, we will get more than 30 municipalities,” Viorel Furdui explained.
According to CALM, the new structures should be given a modern format, taking into account digitalization and new approaches to public services.
