Romania's ruling party leader asks his ministers to accept de-centralization

The ministers who don’t accept de-centralization don’t accept the governing program and can’t stay in the government, Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea said on Thursday, March 29. He said that de-centralization is part of his party’s governing program and an important promise made during the electoral campaign for the 2016 parliamentary elections. Thus, people who don’t accept this and want to follow another direction won’t remain in the cabinet, local News.ro reported. “This is not a higgledy-piggledy government. It’s a government that applies a governing program that is not easy, which has been difficult to elaborate but not to implement, because it’s very clear,” Dragnea said. The PSD leader said on Monday that most ministers agreed that de-centralization was a good thing but that it was not the right time to do it. He said that, together with coalition partner Calin Popescu Tariceanu, he would have a talk with the ministers to find out why they think this way. De-centralization would grant more power and responsibilities to local authorities, which wouldn’t have to ask the for the government’s approval for each project they want to implement. editor@romania-insider.com