There should be a symbiosis between the central and local state authorities to improve the lives of Romanians. This relationship is, however, one of control. One of the ropes through which the puppeteer government controls mayors and local councils is called the Budget Reserve Fund and it's an even worse discretionary allocation than the famous PNDLs.
This budgetary instrument appeared recently in the press where it was noted how the dismissed Cîțu Government allocated sums of money mainly to settlements with PNL mayors. We did some research and found that, in recent years, the Budget Reserve Fund has become the instrument through which the Government sends money to whomever it wants, with premeditation, for supposedly "unexpected expenses".
Read our analysis to find out how the Reserve Fund works, where this quasi-discretionary scheme started, how the distribution of money looks like by counties and settlements since 2017 and our recommendations.
Not just that, we provide you with an open-format XLS (just as we like it) containing the source data we worked with. Download, sort, filter and draw your own conclusions. We explain the methodology in the analysis.
