Five Romanian mayors representing the Association of Romanian Municipalities (AMR) met Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă and Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici to discuss the draft of the 2019 budget and rumors that some of their budgets will be cut.
The delegation consisted of AMR President Robert Negoiţă (also mayor of Bucharest’s 3rd district), Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea, Emil Boc of Kolozsvár/Cluj, Adrian Dobre of Ploieşti and Gheorghe Falcă of Arad.
The delegation went for clarifications after they received no reply from the government regarding their specific questions about the budget. Firea said before the meeting that according to informal sources the budget of the capital will be cut by EUR 70 to 80 million ($80-91 million), at a time when the capital must pay for the purchase of 60 new buses and plans to build a maternity clinic.
Boc said Kolozsvár’s budget was reduced by EUR 28 million (EUR 32 million) last year and should their financing remain at the same level they would have to postpone several important projects. In contrast, Viorel Dragnea, head of the governing Social-Democrats (PSD) said on his Facebook page that the budget for municipalities will be “the highest ever in the history of Romania at RON 77 billion ($18.5 billion).
The mayors’ two-hour meeting with the cabinet members was inconclusive as – contrary to promises made on Monday – the government has yet to finalize this year budget draft – which should have been submitted to Parliament on November 15, 2018.
