The Decentralization Process in Romania

While in the past 25 years Romania has transformed itself into an upper-middle income democracy which successively joined NATO and the European Union, it maintains a rather centralized system of administration with a two-tier territorial structure in place since 1968. While small steps have been taken after the approval of the first post-communist Constitution, local autonomy remains limited in terms of responsibilities and, more importantly, resources. The current chapter aims to assess the latest decentralization developments from four different points of view. It starts by looking into the competences devolved or deconcentrated by the central government to the local governments in the past decades. It then provides a brief history of the territorial structure and its evolution since the creation of the Romanian modern state. It continues with an assessment of the current situation within the civil service both at the central and at the local level. Finally, it analyses the status of local finances focusing mostly on the sources of revenue available for drafting the local budgets. Based on this multi-lateral analysis, the chapter also provides a couple of recommendations for practitioners on how decentralization should be carried out in order to enhance good governance.