Quality of Government and Decentralization in Romania

Former-socialist countries are generally inertia-driven states, where the change of mentalities progresses very slowly. The tradition of the administrative system of last century still casts shadows over the attempted administrative reform of the present. The paper analyzes the evolution of the Romanian administrative system, since the creation of the first national administrative authorities until today, illustrating in a comparative manner the administrative structures and the various degrees of centralization or decentralization employed. Subsequently, an empirical analysis is performed with respect to the extent of the administrative decisional fragmentation at the regional level in Romania. The question rises if excessive decentralization (to the smallest possible administrative-territorial units) can represent a viable future of public administration, in the context of the European policies, which focus on regional cooperation and coordination. Based on the research concerning administrative fragmentation, the paper will emphasize the relations between centralization, decentralization, cooperation and coordination and their degree of inter-dependency, if any, at the same time attempting to capture the influence of the political factor on the administrative system, its structure and procedures.

2002

The political context of the debate is of great importance for the decision making process in this context. The decision must be the result of a consensus reached at the level of the political class about the necessity of the reform and its main directions, on one hand, and the result of a process of consultation with civil society and other affected or involved groups, on the other hand. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the recommendations of EU institutions that although do not impose any model can propose viable solutions based on the experience gained in time on different areas. Equally important for the decision-making process must be the previous analysis and documentation, exploration of as many viable alternatives as possible both about the territorial internal divisions and the conception of the responsibilities of the newly created structures. This is exactly the purpose of this study, which insists on the possible delimitation criteria and aspects of financial and public services decentralization. The outcome must be strong autonomous local communities, able to possess the necessary tools and capacity to encourage local development in all its aspects.

The Palgrave Handbook of Decentralisation in Europe, 2016

Comparative Economic Research. Central and Eastern Europe, 2020

This paper considers the problem of administrative capacity as one of the main requirements that the accession countries seeking EU membership had to meet, and as a prerequisite to the decentralization of their public sectors and public finances. The selected decentralization problems are analyzed using the cases of two countries: Romania and Poland. The results of a theoretical and practical evaluation of administrative capacity as a likely obstacle to fiscal decentralization are presented taking account of the different levels of decentralization in Poland and Romania. A comparative analysis of Romania and Poland shows that administrative capacity can be a constraint for fiscal decentralization. In Poland, the main problem is that the local authorities have not yet been granted powers over taxes that are more complicated to administer in legal and financial terms. Romania has the problem of the incomplete devolution of powers and the limited financial independence of local governm...

Former-socialist countries are generally inertia-driven states, where the change of mentalities progresses very slowly. The tradition of the administrative system of last century still casts shadows over the attempted administrative reform of the present. The paper analyzes the evolution of the Romanian administrative system, since the creation of the first national administrative authorities until today, illustrating in a comparative manner the administrative structures and the various degrees of centralization or decentralization employed. Subsequently, an empirical analysis is performed with respect to the extent of the administrative decisional fragmentation at the regional level in Romania. The question rises if excessive decentralization (to the smallest possible administrative-territorial units) can represent a viable future of public administration, in the context of the European policies, which focus on regional cooperation and coordination. Based on the research concerning administrative fragmentation, the paper will emphasize the relations between centralization, decentralization, cooperation and coordination and their degree of inter-dependency, if any, at the same time attempting to capture the influence of the political factor on the administrative system, its structure and procedures.

2006

The reform of the public administration in the field of decentralization and deconcentration includes three major elements: the further decentralization by transferring the competence and administrative and financial responsibilities to the level of local authorities; the continuation of the deconcentration process by delegating the responsibilities in territory depending on the necessities existing at local level, within the same administrative structure (the deconcentrated services operate at ministry orders that delegated the responsibility); the transformation of the deconcentrated services in territory, depending on the citizens' needs and for making these services efficient, in decentralized services being the responsibility of the local authorities. The updated strategy represents the general framework that provides the premises to continue the decentralization/deconcentration process by providing its coherence. The responsibility to define and implement the sector strate...

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2006

Decentralization does not constitute an end in itself, but a way to deliver more effective public services, a process which tends to achieve a greater degree of administrative and financial independence of the local communities. The local authorities know best the needs and problems faced by the local communities, certainly much better than the central administrative authorities could, are therefore they are in a position that allows them to identify the most appropriate means to satisfy or solve them. The process of decentralization should therefore pursue as an ultimate goal the benefit of the citizen by strengthening the power and role of local public administration in order to ensure the economic and social development of the administrative-territorial units. The transfer of the decision power in the context of decentralization signifies the transfer of the power to decide in the matters of the local community, the power to choose between a number of possible solutions to an existing problem the one considered to be most appropriate, including the power to regulate in certain areas. The transfer of the decisional power must be related to the financial power, for without the insurance of the financial resources in the first place, the decisional responsibility is nothing more then an empty form of decentraization that does not guarantee purposefulness.

Economies

This paper aims to examine whether the status of fiscal decentralization generates efficiency in local spending behavior and leads to local fiscal performance and local economic growth, revealing not only the status of Romania from the point of vertical fiscal imbalance but also the fiscal implication of spending decentralization and local government effectiveness. The methodological background includes qualitative sequential methodology, involving empiric analysis that provides coherence and viability for our study, but also quantitative methods, including Ordinary Least Squares regression (OLS). The empirical results show that fiscal decentralization determines more responsible and efficient local spending, enhancing local performance and contributing to economic growth. Furthermore, the analysis provides evidence on the importance of local fiscal consolidation and gives an overview in terms of spending responsibilities between the central government and local government. The pape...

Management Strategies Journal, 2016

Strong local autonomy or decentralization process became a goal for local governments, but one of the main question in literature remains as how strong must be the local autonomy of expenditures at the local governments’ level. Given the great diversity of situations and legal framework over the period after 1990, I consider that Romania must have a stable legal framework regarding local public finances and stable strategy of local development designed to implement a sustainable process of decentralization in Romanian. The paper will try to emphasize the local autonomy of expenditures in Romania, taking into account an overview of this aspect and empirical evidences. In this regard, I will use the background offered by literature and legal framework and the official statistics data for analysis to identify the degree of local autonomy of expenditures in Romania. I estimate the analysis to confirm a normal local autonomy of expenditures, but also a need for improvement that require s...