Page 222 - Proceeding 2015

FAMP SZABO Septimiu
CCASP DECENTRALIZATION DEVELOPMENTS IN ROMANIA AND POLAND SINCE 1990

In 2006, the Parliament issued a law regarding decentralisation which stated that the process of

decentralisation in Romania needs to follow the principles of subsidiarity, responsibility, stability,
predictability and equity. The central government can only decentralise services based on the potential
economies of scales and the geographical area. Local governments have exclusive, shared or delegated

competences. Asymmetric decentralisation was also introduced in order to allow the centre government
to exercise efficiently the devolved responsibilities to the capable layer of administration. In this regard, if
a subnational authority at the municipal level cannot handle the entrusted tasks, the devolved

responsibilities are transferred at the county level. While the decentralisation law did not create regional
authorities, in several fields these entities have been established through specific pieces of legislation.

These authorities cannot replace the local authorities established in each county but can coordinate
several authorities in a specific region (Ruano and Profiroiu, 2016).

In 2014 the Romanian Constitutional Court ruled out a modification of the decentralisation law as it

infringed local autonomy principles. Furthermore, the proposal was drafted without consulting the local
governments.

In terms of the administrative divisions, the territorial system introduced in 1968 is still in place today with

a few small modifications. Romania has a three-tier system of government with central, county and PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11 TH ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ”Strategic Management for Local Communities” 30 th – 31 st October 2015 Bucharest
municipal/ communal layers. The 41 counties and Bucharest have an average surface of 5,680 square
kilometres and an average population of 480,000 inhabitants (National Institute of Statistics, 2011). At the

municipal/ communal level there are 103 municipalities, 217 towns and 2.861 communes. In 2014 the
population of these 3,181 units ranged from 129 to 1,908,669 with an average of 6,683 (EUROSTAT,
2014). There are also eight development regions created only for statistical reasons and management of

European funds. These administrative divisions were created without any historical, geographical or
cultural bases and do not have any legal status.

As of 2006 the budgets of the local administration are composed of own revenues: taxes and levies and

a quota from the income tax, a quota from the state revenues, subsidies provided by the central
government budget; donations and sponsorship, external funding (EU and others). In this regard both the
expenditure and the revenue incurred at the local level grew from roughly 7% of the 2003 GDP to more

than 9% of the 2014 GDP.

Between 2006 and 2011 the municipal/ communal level received 47% from the income tax quota, the
county councils received 13% and 22% was earmarked for balancing budgets. As of 2011, the quota of

the municipal/ communal councils was reduced to 41.75%, the quota for the county council was reduced
to 11.25% and only 18.5% was earmarked for balancing budgets. In Bucharest, the general city council

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