CALM

Administrative-territorial reform is increasingly becoming a news and commentary topic. Especially as we approach the summer, when the authorities will start the process of forced unification of mayoralties, as a result of which there should be no more than 300 of them left. The rhetoric and goals of the authorities and representatives of the mayor’s community are similar, but the approaches to their solution are different.

In March 2026, the authorities promise to present the concept of administrative-territorial reform. Then, discussions with citizens will be organized and a package of bills will be prepared for submission to parliament in the fall.

The progress of the EU accession negotiations, the challenges faced by local authorities in accessing EU funds, as well as the possibilities to increase institutional sustainability and priority regional development projects were discussed at the second meeting of the Working Group on Moldova of the EU Committee of the Regions, held in Chisinau, Logos Press reports.

Moldovan Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu opened the first meeting of the new government with personnel appointments, including the appointment of the Secretary General of the Government and the new head of the Customs Service. The executive director of the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova, Viorel Furdui, urged the government and, in particular, the new ministers to actively cooperate with local authorities and to take into account institutional experience in implementing reforms, Logos Press reported.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development has announced the allocation of about 3 billion lei to finance 87 regional development projects selected following a call for proposals held in 2024, Logos Press reported.

At one of the next cabinet meetings, the draft government resolution on the approval of the State Program for the creation and development of multifunctional industrial platforms (MIP) will be considered,” Logos Press reports.

The growth of the tax base of local budgets and the strengthening of the financial autonomy of local public administrations have always been disputes between representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM). Recently, the parties reached consensus on the issues of setting the amount of the local levy for improvement, the right of local councils to introduce special taxes, and the right to increase salaries and pay bonuses to employees from the mayoralties’ own revenues.

Representatives of the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM) demand that the process of decentralization and local/regional development be recognized as priorities. And that this should be included in the Economic Growth Plan, where EU funds amounting to 1.9 billion euros have been allocated.

CALM is indignant that the Economic Growth Plan of the Republic of Moldova does not mention local and regional development issues as priorities. And this is despite the fact that most of the commitments to the EU (about 70%) are directly related and will be realized by local authorities.