News about Territorial reform
More than half of the municipalities have made final decisions on voluntary mergers, and the overwhelming majority have initiated such a process.
The government today presented the mayors of voluntarily merging northern municipalities with the administrative framework for Financial Incentive No. 2. The funds will be allocated for infrastructure development.
A new administrative-territorial map of the Republic of Moldova will be submitted to Parliament for approval this fall.
The process of merging municipalities continues to spark controversy. Gheorghe Răilan, former mayor of Cimișlia and former vice president of the Congress of Local Authorities in Moldova (CALM), has joined the debate, warning of the risks posed by the reform.
The Republic of Moldova is implementing a cross-border project worth 1.5 million euros aimed at preventing natural disasters, in partnership with Romania.
Approximately 60.5% of local budget revenues come from transfers from the national budget. By comparison, the average for countries in Southeast Europe is about 30%. MP Angela Cutasevici proposes increasing the share of revenue that remains at the disposal of local budgets.
The Chisinau City Hall has announced the completion of modernization work on Sarmizecetusa Street in the Botanica sector. A crosswalk was also recently installed there.
Marcel Bobeica, mayor of the commune of Gangura in the Yaloveț district and vice president of CALM, draws attention to the problems and ambiguities associated with local government reform in Moldova.
Work is in full swing on the construction of new park-and-ride facilities at the entrances to the capital. Such facilities will also be built in other parts of the city, promises Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban.
Prime Minister Vasile Tofan and his Bulgarian counterpart, Rumen Radev, discussed the importance of strengthening cooperation on energy security in the region amid the sector’s mounting challenges. The exchange of views took place during a telephone conversation between the two heads of government.
President Maia Sandu once again addressed the mayors of municipalities that have not yet completed the voluntary merger process, urging them to continue negotiations and make a decision in the best interests of their communities’ development. She reiterated the call she made several days ago, noting that localities that refuse to participate in voluntary consolidation will subsequently be reorganized in accordance with the law and will not be eligible for financial incentives.
The Constitutional Court rejected a petition filed by the local council of the village of Shestach in the Sholdenești District, in which the local administration challenged the procedure for providing financial support to localities participating in the voluntary amalgamation process.
Of the 892 municipalities eligible to participate in this process (excluding the municipalities of Chișinău and Bălți), 761—or 85%—have decided to begin the merger process. Of these, 400 have already completed all procedural steps, including public consultations, and have made a final decision to merge.
President Maia Sandu reminds that municipalities that do not complete the voluntary merger process by September 1 will be subject to the mandatory merger procedure and will not be able to access the additional resources allocated by the government for this reform.
Parliament adopted this resolution at the initiative of local government officials to allow those who had begun the consolidation process to complete it.
Parliament approved the Restart reform in its first reading, which calls for the creation of 35 regional education agencies directly subordinate to the Ministry of Education and Research. Authorities argue that the reform will transform education into a “social elevator” accessible to all children, while the opposition warns of excessive centralization and the consolidation of political control over the system.
The process of voluntary municipal mergers will be temporarily suspended from September 1, 2026, until the date of the first round of the 2027 general local elections, in accordance with an amendment proposed by Representative Ersilia Katrawi and adopted by Parliament.
The government has announced the first stimulus payments made through a voluntary association of city governments. According to official data, 81 city governments received the funds.
On Monday, the press office of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Russian Foreign Ministry of its decision to expel one of the staff members of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest.
A few days before the deadline for voluntary consolidation, the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM) stated that representatives of the State Chancellery and a number of lawmakers are pressuring mayors and local elected officials to make decisions on municipal consolidation within a tight timeframe.
