Former Prime Minister Ludovic Orban claims that Romania urgently needs a deep administrative reform, which would reduce the number of counties and administrative-territorial units. The leader of Forța Dreptei harshly criticizes the mayors who contest the restructuring plans and says that in many town halls there are staff hired on political criteria.
In an intervention on RFI Romania, Ludovic Orban declared that the current administrative system is oversized and ineffective. He states that “most employees who cut leaves at dogs in the administration are the employees on the files“.
“It is unacceptable to have almost 2,400 localities that cannot pay their staff”
The former prime minister draws attention to the financial situation of many localities in the country. “This story must end, it is inadmissible to have almost 2,400 localities in Romania whose own incomes are not even sufficient to support personnel expenses”said Orban.
In his opinion, the solution is an administrative reorganization that would reduce the number of units and concentrate public services. “An administrative reform is needed that will lead to the concentration of the administration, fewer administrative-territorial units. Personally, I also support the reduction of the number of counties, because this would also lead to a restructuring of the decentralized services of the ministries and agencies of the national authorities, because reducing the number of counties would obviously reduce the number of decentralized ones and practically reduce the number of employees (…). I can give you a figure, based on the evaluations mine, you can reach 17-18 counties, without problems”.
The leader of the Right Force believes that such a reform is possible if there is political will. “If there is the political will for such an administrative reform, the criteria on the basis of which these concentrations are made can be established, both at the level of counties and at the level of administrative-territorial units“, he specified.
Attack on the mayors who challenge the reform
Ludovic Orban also criticized the commune mayors who rebelled against Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, in the context of the public administration reform.
“Almost all the mayors who spoke against Bolojan were PSD mayors, led by the mayor of Cumpăna, who has been in office since 2020 (…). Cumpăna town hall has 85 employees, at a commune town hall. How can they have no place to make staff cuts?“, said the former prime minister.
He also offered other examples regarding, in his opinion, the over-dimensioning of the local administrative apparatus: “It is inadmissible to be localities with 3,000 inhabitants, which have 25-30 employees. Quite simply, there are completely crazy employees, there are positions, the mayor’s adviser, public administrator, I don’t understand why he has to be a deputy mayor in localities with less than 2,000 inhabitants (…). A town hall of an average commune can function quietly with 15-16 employees to do their job”.
The statements of the former prime minister come in the context of debates regarding the reorganization of the public administration and the reduction of budget expenditures, a subject that has provoked strong reactions among local elected officials.
