Usually, the Government is allowed to transfer money from the reserve fund to local authorities only if their debts at the end of the preceding year were lower than in the year before that. Through an emergency ordinance adopted Tuesday, the Government has decided to suspend this rule until December 31, 2012, enabling new money transfers all through the year.
The Government has also introduced an exception from the law on public finance, allowing it to earmark more funds from the reserve and pay the local authorities’ arrears. This law says only urgent or unforeseen expenses may be covered from the reserve fund.
Thanks to the ordinance, the Government was able to adopt a decision allotting a total of 648 million lei (EUR148 million) from the reserve fund to the local authorities.
Last week, people close to the matter told MEDIAFAX that Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu left the ruling coalition’s meeting on Monday in anger over certain party leaders’ demands for funds to be directed to a number of constituencies, in exchange for their support of the Government’s bills in Parliament.
Earlier this week, Government spokesman Dan Suciu said the prime minister had persuaded the coalition to accept that funds would be distributed to the local authorities in order to co-finance EU-funded projects and to pay their arrears.