The Local Public Administration In The Republic Of Moldova

The Republic of Moldova is currently undergoing a complex process of administrative reorganization, in accordance with the European principles of autonomy and subsidiarity. As part of the process there can be identified several stages whose content is defined by the degree of separation of the political power from the Soviet administration pattern. Moldova’s transition from the rayonal administration system to one based on counties, only to return to the rayonal pattern, expresses the febrile attempts of a society which is trying to define its own identity in the midst of the democratization process. In the context of this process one cannot help noticing „the Moldavian paradox”, namely the fact that there are no less than ten laws proclaiming autonomy and decentralization, while the administrative practice is rather centralist, non- autonomous due to the lack of political will in enforcing legislation and to the insufficient financial resources necessary to exert real autonomy.