Radu Marian, MP and Vice President of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), provided clarifications on the local public administration reform, TRIBUNA reports.

“Villages remain, town halls merge! We are launching the process of implementing the public administration reform. The first stage is public consultations. We need larger, stronger municipalities that can implement major national or EU-funded projects — infrastructure, economic and/or social. To implement such projects, town halls need specialists, engineers and higher revenues, which can only come from a larger population,” he stated.

Marian acknowledged that some citizens and local elected officials have concerns about this reform, but stressed that the absence of a town hall in a particular village will not mean the community is left without services. “Even if there is no town hall in a certain village, this does not mean that the community will be left without services. On the contrary, conditions will improve: service provision centres will be opened, and there will be a representative of the village in the local administration,” he underlined.

The politician also noted that second-level public administrations — the districts (raions) — will likewise be subject to reform and consolidation, in order to increase their capacity and relevance for citizens.

According to him, the procedure will be as follows:
– by spring, the Government and MPs will hold discussions with mayors, local elected officials and citizens on the optimal way to consolidate localities and which villages would be best suited to “merge”;
– in summer 2026, the adoption of the legislative package is planned;
– throughout this period, first-level local public authorities will have the possibility to amalgamate voluntarily, benefiting from clearer and more generous incentives, up to a set deadline.

“For those town halls that will not ‘merge’ voluntarily, normative amalgamation will be applied,” Radu Marian concluded.