The Prime Minister, Iurie Leanca chaired on Tuesday, 8 July, the meeting of the Parity Commission on Decentralisation. During the meeting, there was discussed the development of strategies for decentralisation in priority sectors: property, education, and social services, and application prospects from 1 January 2015, of a new system of local public finance, throughout the Republic of Moldova.
Thus, it was decided that by the end of August, the Government will consider the draft law on the deliniation of public property, prepared by a working group led by the Ministry of Economy. The draft law, which provides for the demarcation of public property between local and central public authorities and the process of registration, is to be sent for approval to ministries.
‘Effective management of public property is an important prerequisite for building capacity and increasing revenue for the LPA, especially in the context of new system of local finance, which will be applied throughout the country from 1 January 2015, so it is imperative to realize delineation of property until the end of the year, ‘said, in this regard, the Deputy Secretary General of the Government’, Sergiu Palihovici.
In order to ensure smooth implementation of the new system of local finance, starting with the next year, the Paritary Commission has decided to prepare a roadmap for the next five months, which is aimed at identifying and correcting potential risks.
However, by 15 August, the Ministries of Education and Finance, together with the local authorities, will have a joint working group. The working group will develop proposals to ensure funding for kindergarten activities in rural communities. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance will train officers from the Ministry of Education, who will manage special purpose transfers to fund schools together with the new system of local finance.
The Prime Minister, Iurie Leanca reiterated at the meeting, that the decentralization process is an important one for the proper functioning of the state, and asked the Commission to speed up the activities in this area. However, the State Chancellery will hold monthly consultative meetings to ensure good communication between the government and municipalities in terms of decentralisation reform.
At the next meeting of the Paritary Commission, the members of the Commission will examine the methodology for assessing local public authorities’ capacities, and will discuss the clarification and delimitation of competences between LPAs of levels 1 and 2 in several areas. At the same time, it will be performed a comprehensive analysis of the action plan for the implementation of the decentralisation strategy and the achievement degree of this Plan.
The Parity Commission on Decentralisation works includes representatives of CPA and LPA, Members of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and experts. The next Commission’s meeting will be held in the second half of September.
