Court ruling annuls decisions establishing Bucharest City Hall’s municipal companies

The Bucharest Court of Appeal decided on Thursday, November 22, to annul de decisions through which the municipal companies of the Bucharest City Hall were established last year, opposition party Save Romania Union (USR) announced. The decision is final. The Bucharest City Hall decided to set up 22 municipal companies last year, decisions in this sense being adopted by the capital’s General Council (CGMB). The municipal companies work across a range of areas, such as electricity and heat production and supply, public lighting, hospital management, construction, security, advertising space management, infrastructure projects consultancy, road management, and parking management. CGMB councilors representing USR challenged the establishment of these companies, arguing that the decisions were adopted illegally, as the procedure didn’t respect the voting regulation. More precisely, they were adopted through a simple majority vote (50%+1 of total councilors) instead of a two-thirds vote like the law requires for such projects. The Bucharest Court of Appeal agreed with USR and decided to annul the CGMB’s decisions establishing these companies. However, this doesn’t mean that the companies will be dismantled, but the court ruling could block their activity until a solution is found, local Digi24 reported. Mayor Gabriela Firea said she was surprised by the court decision, which she found “at least shocking.” According to her, these decisions to set up the municipal companies were adopted “in strict compliance with the law.” The City Hall will analyze the court’s ruling and consult with legal experts to decide further measures. “What we want to say is that these companies still exist, they were set up a year and a few months ago, they are registered with the Trade Registry, and these administrative acts’ cancellation will not (automatically) produce effects over functional companies,” Firea said. Private sector: Bucharest municipal companies’ activity distorts competition Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com (photo source: Facebook / Gabriela Firea)