The Deconcentration of Public Services in Romania

The current social concerns have caused an increasingly noticeable decline of the centralised system, as the deconcentration and decentralisation processes of the past decade have led to a shift of powers towards the local government structures. Deconcentration, the underlying principle that defines the organisation and functioning of local government structures and the focus of the present analysis, entails the redistribution of administrative, planning and financial responsibilities from central government authorities to lower-level local authorities. However, despite the fact that these structures function on a local level, they are closely linked to central authorities and still remain upwardly accountable to central governments. We believe that the implementation of deconcentration will increase the efficiency of the strategies of central governments, as deconcentrated services are closer to the civil society and can thus make more competent decisions in agreement with the local interest and necessities.