Premier Emil Boc: State does not lose control by decentralization

Decentralization aims at giving tasks, prerogatives, accompanied by financial resources, to the local authorities for a better solution of the problems people have to face, this is how Premier Emil Boc defined decentralization at the end of the Government meeting on Sunday.

"It is actually a way of applying the principle of subsidiarity, which says that decisions must be made by the authorities that are closest to the citizen. In other words, people in the provinces know much better how to solve both problems of health and problems of education, sport and agriculture than the central authorities in Bucharest," explained the Prime Minister.

He pointed out that decentralization did not mean that "the state loses control of the way in which these activities are carried out."

"Nationwide we preserve our checking, controlling and national standard competences, which must be applied everywhere in Romania in a unitary manner and in keeping with the legal provisions," Boc added.

The Premier maintained that the decentralization process had entered its final stretch, the Government being in the stage of drawing up the normative documents by which, starting on January 1, 2010, decentralization in the public administration, in health, in sport, in education, in culture, in agriculture should effectively come into force.

According to Boc, within ten days, the Government will start examining the fields of agriculture, education, culture and labour.

"The relevant ministries will produce, in ten days, the list of the normative documents, which will be approved either in the form of the drafts of Government resolutions or in the form of draft laws as, here too, decentralization should be carried through. The normative documents are being approved by ministries and in ten days they are to be submitted to the Government," concluded the Prime Minister.

The Government on Sunday adopted three normative documents referring to decentralization in the field of health, local police and sport.

Agerpres