Mayors' congress accuses Moldova government of illegal pressure over mergers
The Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM) has accused the government of using a July 31 deadline for voluntary municipal mergers to pressure local elected officials. In a letter to the country's top leadership, the group is demanding a restoration of legality, an end to the pressure on local authorities, and a resumption of dialogue with communities.
CALM sent the letter to President Maia Sandu, Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu and lawmakers, Prime Minister Vasile Tofan, Prosecutor General Alexandru Machidon, and Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) Director Alexandru Musteața. The group says the territorial-administrative reform rests on a policy concept that has never been approved through any legal instrument, yet is being imposed as the basis for implementation.
"The July 31 deadline, and the unprecedented pressure exerted by the State Chancellery and some lawmakers on mayors and local elected officials for a supposedly 'voluntary' merger, constitutes a major illegality and a serious abuse that strikes at local autonomy and the rule of law, and represents one of the greatest risks to Moldova's European path," CALM said in a statement.
The group also said recent admissions by some backers of the merger model confirm that the entire local-government reform process is being carried out outside the law, and that citing an unadopted draft document as a legal basis is clear evidence of officials overstepping their authority.
CALM said the conduct amounts to potential violations of the Criminal Code, including abuse of power or abuse of office, exceeding one's official authority, dereliction of duty, forgery of public documents, and usurpation of state power.
Government Secretary General Alexei Buzu recently said the deadline for voluntary amalgamation, which expires in a few days, will not be extended. Starting in August, he said, the government will launch a mandatory, top-down merger process for town halls that refused to merge voluntarily. Buzu said the territorial reform must be completed before Moldova's 2027 local elections, and that the draft law on the new administrative-territorial organization should reach Parliament as soon as possible.
Buzu said another 165 town halls have adopted final decisions on voluntary amalgamation, with 98 of them merging into 33 larger, stronger municipalities covering some 142,000 people. Those localities are set to receive over 500 million lei (approx. €24.9 million) for development projects.
According to figures presented by authorities, more than 1,000 voluntary amalgamation decisions have been approved so far, meaning roughly 70% of the country's town halls are now involved in the process.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
