Bucharest’s District 6 City Hall, led by Liberal mayor Ciprian Ciucu, was deemed the most transparent in a ranking that measured the public finances of 109 cities and towns in Romania.

Put together by the civic engagement and political education NGO Funky Citizens, the ranking took into account the access and participation of citizens in the penning of local budgets. Budget oversight was taken as a factor.

“In most of Romania’s localities, there is no framework to ensure constant dialogue between citizens, NGOs, and local authorities,” reads the report accompanying the ranking.

The 10 most transparent cities in Romania are, in order, Bucharest’s District 6, Alexandria, Brașov, Deva, Hunedoara, Pitești, Alba Iulia, Bacău, Cluj-Napoca and Constanța.

According to the NGO, authorities in these cities “best met criteria of local public finance legislation in terms of transparency and took steps toward meeting international standards in public finance”.

The mid-sized cities of Reșita, Orăștie, Târgu Secuiesc, Sighetu Marmației and Motru were ranked as the least transparent.

District 1 was deemed the least transparent of Bucharest’s six subdivisions. At loggerheads since the 2020 elections, mayor Clotilde Armand and the Social-Democrat and Liberal majority in the city council delayed the adoption and publication of the sector’s budget. The proposed local budget was adopted only when the threat of snap elections hovered over city councilors.

In 2021, the local authorities managed a combined budget of RON 102.6 billion (EUR 20.7 billion), or 18.5% of total public expenses in Romania. The largest cities spent roughly 40% of that sum.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Andrii Yalanskyi | Dreamstime.com)