Considerations about administrative decentralization and local autonomy in Romania

Decentralization is not the opposite of centralization, but its diminution, diminishing the concentration of powers. By means of decentralization certain public services of local interest are transferred from the competence of the center to that of some local public administration authorities, which have independence from the central power, are autonomous and are not subordinated to it. The idea of decentralization implies the idea of local autonomy. Local autonomy means the right and effective capacity of local public administration authorities to solve and manage public affairs in the name of and in the interest of the local communities they represent, under the law. In this article we analyzed the legal means of achieving administrative decentralization and local autonomy in Romania. At the end of the article we made some de lege ferenda proposals, considering that the European principle of subsidiarity and the French model of the decentralization contract should also be a reference point for the Romanian legislator.