PM Dancila: Decentralisation project should not be abandoned

The decentralisation project should not be abandoned, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila told a meeting of the General Assembly of the National Union of Romania's County Councils hosted by Parliament Palace in Bucharest on Thursday.

"We discussed decentralisation, and I said that there was a decentralisation project - [national leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD)] Liviu Dragnea worked on a decentralisation project, but you know very well that it was rejected by the Constitutional Court (CCR), which does not mean it is an abandoned project. I want the ideas, the first steps to be taken from the local administrations to the government so that together we can carry on this project," Dancial said upon leaving the event.

Asked about the steps to carry forward this project, Dancila mentioned the establishment of a working group. "Let's not just say at the declarative level in the local administrations that we want decentralisation; let there be a working group, and let each county come up with proposals on how to get the decentralisation; let us hold public consultations with experts, as it has already been done an try to put everything into practice as well (...) I cannot specify a timetable, but in my opinion we should start as soon as possible taking the necessary steps," said Dancila.

She added that another discussion regarded European funds, with her reaffirming the need to speed up the process.

"Every community pins their hopes on European funds (...) They have said they want to take all the steps to make up for the delay. As you know, in 2016 we did not even have the accredited management authorities in place, we did not have the guides launched; it was only in mid-2017 that we were able to accredit the authorities and launch guides for the absorption of European funds," said Dancila, adding that the pace of absorption is accelerating. AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)