Decentralization of Public Services in Romania

Improving efficiency and modernizing the public administration was and still is a major requirement of the Romanian reform with a view to Romania’s EU accession. The quality of the public services provided to the community can be improved primarily by means of their provision by the authority that is closest to the citizen. Therefore, decentralization represents a key element of the Romanian public administration reform, leading to reinforcing the power and role of local authorities in managing public services. Though launched later than it should have, in recent years decentralization in Romania has took important steps in point of pace and contents. Throughout the process of decentralizat ion in Romania a number of problems and shortcomings have occurred, including: • the unstable character of the legal framework; • the lack of transparency and predictability of transfers from the state budget for balancing the local budgets, but also of interadministrative transfers; • the lack of a clear definition of the responsibilities being transferred to local authorities;