LEGAL BASIS OF THE REFORM LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN MOLDOVA (1994-2023)

Abstract

The article analyzes the legal foundations of the local government reform in Moldova since 1994 up to the present time. The author states that positive and negative experience of Moldova in the field of municipal governing reform deserves special attention of scientific community, as the reform is implemented amidst the unsolved territorial and political issues and realization of the course for Euro-integration. The article consecutively considers the main landmarks in the process of building the Moldovan statehood, and assesses the activities of superior authorities in the context of the municipal reform. It is pointed out that immediately after gaining independence, the highest power structures proclaimed a pro-Western course of further development, the essence of which was an active striving for membership in the European Union. It is noted that while carrying out reforms, including construction of the new local self-government system, European models and standards of development were used, including at the legislative level, but the process of effective introducing such models and standards was hindered by the specifics of post-Soviet political and economic development of Moldova. The influence of the “ Romanianization” of the country on reforms is studied particularly. The author concludes by stating, that the desire of national political elite to retain power and financial resources in their hands had a eminently negative impact on the formation of post-Soviet local self-government system in Moldova and points out that the development of local self-government system is still considered by Moldovan authorities not as one of the tools of modernization of national governance system, but as a burden, a liability, necessary for accession to the European Union.