This opinion was expressed by the people’s elected representatives during the meeting of the Oknica District Mayors’ Association, and it was enshrined in a joint declaration. In it, the mayors oppose forced unification, unless villagers are directly invited to participate in a local referendum.
“We are not against local government reform, but we are against the way it is being carried out – hastily, not in stages. We do not accept the merger of mayoralties at the whim of politicians acting in their own interests,” emphasize the signatories of the declaration.
The president of the association, the mayor of Birnova village, Valerie Scutelnic, explained that most of the mayors of the district signed the declaration because they wanted to draw the attention of the government and society to the possible risks in case of forced unification of mayoralties.
Referendum is a constitutional mechanism of local autonomy
“We are in favor of voluntary unification, really voluntary, we are against normative unification,” he said. – The statements of the Chairman of the Parliament Igor Grosu regarding the compulsory merger of administrations concerned us. Only citizens have the right to decide by referendum whether their administration will be merged with another one. This is a constitutional principle of local autonomy, transparency and fairness. Although the central authorities claim that this reform is aimed at strengthening the capacity of local self-government and bringing the decision-making process closer to citizens, our association members believe that in the absence of clear solutions and real guarantees, these statements remain just empty words”.
The mayors of Ocnita district emphasize that most Moldovan localities have started developing on their own, with the help of a small team to attract investments, and local authorities have demonstrated their ability to implement projects, develop local services, etc.
“Our mission is to develop rural localities sustainably, to prevent their disappearance, not to tear children away from their parents, homes and schools. The village is the backbone of the state. Villagers are not numbers, they are souls who need education, healthcare and infrastructure. As town halls disappear in villages, Moldova’s villages themselves will gradually disappear,” said the MPs who signed the declaration.
