Liberals endorse Romanian PM’s new state-financed local development program

The leaders of Romania’s National Liberal Party (PNL) unanimously approved the prime minister’s new national development program worth EUR 10 billion, PM Florin Citu announced on Wednesday, August 18, Hotnews.ro reported.

Members of the USR-PLUS alliance, PNL’s main ruling coalition partner, have criticized this plan, which consists in distributing EUR 10 bln worth of funds from the state budget to the local authorities to finance projects of local interest.

“This program is so sexy because everyone can tell the mayors ‘vote for me and I will give you money’. We want guarantees that this will not happen,” EU funds minister Cristian Ghinea commented about the program.

Former PSD leader Liviu Dragnea was the first who launched the National Program for Local Development (PNDL). The program has been regarded as a way to discretionary reward mayors for their support for the party leader. This was mainly because of unclear criteria for awarding the funds and a lack of control over how they were spent.

However, Citu says the new program, which he named after famous Romanian engineer Anghel Saligny, is aimed at developing the country.

The Liberals’ other coalition partner, the Democrat Hungarian Union (UDMR), also supports the program as the distribution of development funds falls to the Ministry of Development, Public Work and Administration, currently led by UDMR’s Cseke Attila.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Ilona Andrei)