Decentralization, local democracy and the situation of local self-government are areas of discontinuity in the Republic of Moldova that hinder the reform process required by the country's development partners.
Local authorities argue that centralist government and the neglect of local autonomy represent an older legacy of the Soviet type, but especially in comparison with the EU-supported standards for good governance, it is becoming increasingly clear how large the discrepancies exist in terms of access to justice, social services, and economic development as cumulative effects of delays in decentralization reforms. The observation belongs to the team of authors representing CALM, V.Furdui, V.Russu, who today presented at the IDIS headquarters a monitoring report "Situation of local democracy and the degree of implementation of policy documents in the field of decentralization".
Director of IDIS Viitorul, Igor Munteanu said in his speech: "Reform of decentralization should not be considered a secondary reform, compared to other reforms in the central administration sector. It would be a strategic mistake. It is at least equal to public sector reform as a message to local authorities and consistency with local autonomy as a pillar of participatory democracy. The report presented today by CALM notes that the overwhelming majority of Moldova's obligations in the field of local democracy, included in the Road Map on the implementation of Recommendation 322, under the responsibility of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, Council of Europe and CALM of 8 July 2016, have not been met. This reality clearly explains why citizens do not see real progress in terms of the financial status of their localities, the quality of services is desirable, and government control has traditionally become a tool of political punishment. The Republic of Moldova needs functional institutions of the local public administration, not pro-reform reforms, of which only the central bureaucracy and opportunity-winners can benefit. This report provides answers to the big problems of decentralization and shows how useful CALM can be for the reform tasks".
The authors of the study specifically reject any allegations that they are opponents of the administrative-territorial reform, noting that the lessons of previous reforms need to be learned, that public consensus must be created, and that the right of citizens to express themselves on the options of territorial-administrative recalibration, and not to be faced with the accomplished fact, with some amalgamation decided by somebody else. The authors are convinced that "together we can succeed" and that there are sufficient capacities and ideas useful for local authorities that can be useful to the concept and vision of local reform. This includes: (1) The complex establishment and analysis of the causes of the worsening of the situation in the field of local democracy, (2) the creation of an adequate and effective institutional framework at all levels of the state power in the Republic of Moldova in order to correlate and implement the LPA policies / commitments , (3) decentralization and consolidation of local autonomy and revision of the legal framework in the criminal field, grounds for criminal prosecution and (4) monitoring of cases of disproportionate / abusive application of preventive measures (arrest) by judicial bodies in relation to LPA .
The situation of local democracy and decentralization is, according to the author of the report, Viorel Furdui, CALM Director, together with justice, human rights and media freedom, a vital area of democratic power. Only neglecting the constitutional principle of local autonomy and eligibility has led to the accumulated arrears in relation to the Council of Europe, which can reduce any other successful reforms.
The study was conducted by CALM in collaboration with IDIS Viitorul and appeared with the support of the East European Foundation, from the resources provided by the Swedish Government, in a public policy monitoring project by independent civil society experts.
The report can be downloaded ahere.
For more details, you can contact us at the IDIS headquarters or by contacting the IDIS Viitorul Press Officer, Victor Ursu (tel.069017396 or ursu.victoor@gmail.com).
