Romania plans to merge 429 small localities, voluntarily until March 2027 then compulsorily

A two-stage plan with a 2028 start

Romania's new development minister, Alexandru Stoica, said on Friday, 30 October, that 429 localities could be merged by 2028, starting with a voluntary stage. Stoica was named to the post on 20 October, when the cabinet led by Luca Niculescu was invested. Speaking at a press briefing after a government sitting, he said the reform would apply from 2028, when it would be put into effect at the next elections. The 1,500-resident threshold was chosen from the population categories the ministry uses, and its calculations pointed to 429 localities.

Voluntary first, compulsory later

Stoica said the voluntary merger has to be finished by 1 March 2027, after which a decision on compulsory mergers would be taken. Asked whether localities that did not merge voluntarily would face penalties, he answered that there is no such thing. The second stage would be carried out through the government taking responsibility before Parliament, and he said how the counties would be arranged still needed a much deeper analysis. PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu had earlier hinted that the voluntary stage might last only until March. In a video interview published on Friday, Stoica backed compulsory mergers for localities that can no longer finance themselves, while saying authorities would first encourage unification through investment and tax incentives.

How a merger would work

Each administrative unit wanting to merge would need a local referendum, launched by a decision of its local council. Stoica said the administrative effects would appear at the 2028 local elections, when residents of merged communes would choose the leadership of the new unit. He presented 1,500 residents as a starting point rather than a ceiling, saying a locality of 3,000 residents could merge with a neighbour of 300 or 400. On the process he was direct:

“Every administrative-territorial unit that wants to merge will initiate this referendum through local council decisions.”

Competing counts and data

The ministry's figure is 429 localities, based on 2023 population data from the National Institute of Statistics. Libertatea, by contrast, wrote about no fewer than 464 units that would be merged if the PSD carries the plan through. The sources do not reconcile the two numbers. Separately, bills in the billions of lei under the Anghel Saligny programme are still waiting to be settled, and the development ministry has received no extra money in the first budget rectification.

Mayors push back

Mayors from the PSD, PNL and UDMR complained that the announcement should have followed talks with them. Emil Drăghici, president of the Association of Communes of Romania (ACOR), said he would not comment at length until he sees the data from his meeting with the minister, and the association has set up a league of mayors of communes under 1,500 residents. In Iași county, the two communes below the threshold are Cucuteni, with 1,335 residents, and Drăgușeni, with 1,455, as of 1 January 2023.

Cucuteni1,335

Drăgușeni1,455

Cucuteni

1335 inhabitants

Drăgușeni

1455 inhabitants

Data from the article text

Cucuteni's mayor, Pamfilică Brânză, rejects the idea and said:

“I don't think it is a good thing, from my point of view, for the locality of Cucuteni to disappear. It is a national brand.”

He added that he had not spoken with anyone from the PSD county branch about the plan.