Kelemen Hunor: "We must take into account the principle of local autonomy"

The package of fiscal measures must take local autonomy into account, Kelemen Hunor, president of UDMR, said yesterday, quoted by news.ro, after the discussion he had with Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.

The UDMR leader said: "We said that, first of all, we must take into account the principle of local autonomy. You cannot intervene from the central level to say what local authorities are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do, how much they have to spend on culture, sports, religion and so on. So it cannot be accepted. That percentage of 2.5% (ed. - regarding the allocation by local councils or the county of sums for cultural institutions, religious cults and other recreational activities) must disappear from the project, because that means you intervened over the local authorities ".

He also stated that at the local level "cultural institutions must be exempted from merging when there are less than 50 posts" and specified that "when it comes to local fees and taxes, you cannot impose from the center as much as hundred you can give to certain activities".

Kelemen Hunor pointed out: "The electorate answers and holds local elected officials accountable, not the Ministry of Finance. That's why performance criteria cannot be established, it's the second issue, from the central level for local authorities for local authority institutions. For the local elected officials, there is no way for you to establish criteria from the central level, and I said that this provision must disappear from the project".