Over 50 Romanian local authorities have committed to measuring their governance practice against the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance. At a Conference organised by the General Secretariat of the Government in the Victoria Palace in Bucharest, Romania, Mr Marian Neacsu, General Secretary, restated his Government’s commitment to improving governing practice at local level in Romania through implementation of the European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE).
Cities, towns, and communes from each of the regions of Romania have formally signed up to pursuing a process of self-evaluation based on the European Good Governance Benchmark.
Mr Daniel Popescu, Head of the Democracy and Governance Department of the Council of Europe, welcomed the enthusiasm of Romanian local authorities to embark on the ELoGE process. He noted that ELoGE is as much about the journey as the destination and that municipalities, local elected officials, and citizens will benefit from involvement in a process of self-evaluation of good democratic governance practice of their local authorities.
Romania joins a long list of Council of Europe member states from Latvia and Lithuania to Portugal and Spain, encompassing France and Italy and several states across the Western Balkans, who all recognise the merits of measuring local government practice against the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance.
ELoGE relies on a partnership between the Council of Europe and a national organisation or a platform with a substantive know-how, expertise or experience in the field of good governance, especially at the local level. The ELoGE process in Romania will be overseen by a National Evaluation Committee presided by Mr Victor Moraru, Director General of Open Government, and also including the National Institute of Administration, and the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration. The Conference also heard from a broad range of local government stakeholders including the National Union of County Councils, the Association of Municipalities, the Association of Communes, and the Association of Cities.
