Romania’s Social Democratic Party (PSD) has proposed six criteria to determine which local authorities should be considered for mergers under a territorial reform plan it aims to finalise in March 2027.
Dragoș Benea, a member of the European Parliament who leads the party’s working group on the reform, told a news conference on Monday that, under the group’s proposals, mayors would serve out their current terms, which end in 2028.
The proposed scoring system would assess population size and demographic trends, municipal finances and local tax collection, administrative capacity, transport links and proximity to hospitals and fire services, access to schools and healthcare, and provision of utilities and public transport.
Under the plan, each county would set up a committee led by the prefect’s office to consult local authorities. The committees would then send their recommendations to the interior and development ministries. Benea said the government could seek to push the reform through parliament by staking its confidence on the bill.
Benea said villages and towns would continue to exist as settlements even if their administrations were merged. He argued that larger local authorities would be better equipped to provide public services and compete for funding under the European Union’s 2028–2034 budget.
According to figures presented by Benea, more than 450 Romanian local government areas have fewer than 1,500 residents, while 55% of towns have populations below the 10,000-resident threshold.
