Page 225 - Proceeding 2015

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

Local revenues in Poland come from own sources (local taxes – especially the tax on real estate, fees for
services and various own revenues), a share from the income tax collected by the central government,
general-purpose grants and earmarked grants (especially from the European Union). It should be noted
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11 TH ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
that Poland applies an equalisation system in order to increase the allocations for poorer regions. At the
regional level each voivodeship enteres into an agreement with the central government in order to receive

the co-financing needed for implementing the EU funds. Public debt at the local level is lower than the EU
average as the central government restricts the process of borrowing (Ruano and Profiroiu, 2016).

CONCLUSIONS

Romania and Poland have had a very different experience in relation to decentralisation in the past 25
years although in 1990 the situation in the two countries was rather similar. While Poland is considered a

good practice in Eastern Europe, Romania is still seen as a rather centralised country.

Poland has witnessed significant developments as regards decentralisation and regionalisation in the past
30 th – 31 st October 2015 ”Strategic Management for Local Communities” Bucharest encouraged local autonomy and delegation of competencies as mentioned in the Constitution. In this
25 years which led to an economic and political shift. Legislation adopted in Poland after 1990 has

regard Polish local authorities have seen a significant shift in terms of both responsibilities and resources
especially after the country moved from a two-tier to a three-tier territorial division. The quality of

governance and access to the European and global market were incentives for embarking on these
reforms.

The post-communist Romania has inherited the administrative divisions created in 1968 by Nicolae

Ceause?cu as the recently created development regions are still not functional as long as these entities
are not given legal status. Furthermore, the authority at local level continues to be rather low, strongly
influenced by the central government and the resources given are insufficient in comparison with the given

responsibilities. As regards the latter, in some of the sectors there is still an incomplete transfer of
responsibilities. Nonetheless, as both the decentralisation process and local autonomy are mentioned in

the Constitution, some steps in this direction have been taken mostly through deconcentration but also
through devolution of responsibilities in some sectors. In addition there seems to be a political will to
decentralise more responsibilities, albeit not in the most transparent matter.

The post-communist governments of Poland have understood better than their Romanian counterparts
the principle of subsidiarity. They have started the discussions about decentralisation early in the 1990s
and managed to switch from a two-tier to a three-tier territorial division before joining the EU. Romania,

on the other hand, did not bring this issue forward in the first post-communist decade as politicians in

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