With taxes in Brussels

The Mures County Council will have a representation in Brussels, and the public clerks in the proper apparatus will effectuate training sessions in Belgium. In the meeting last Thursday, the councilors approved the conclusion of a convention with the National Union of County Councils (UNCJR), which in its last national reunion, a month ago in Mamaia, compiled a real estate business that will deprive the county budgets of thousands of euros.

UNCJR (whose member the Mures County Council is), launched activities for opening a Permanent Representation Office of this organization in Brussels. On the occasion of the

General Assembly of the National Union of County Councils in Romania, there was settled the way the designated representatives of the county councils will have the possibility to effectuate, through rotation, internship sessions in Belgium. In a letter sent to the Mures CC, there was requested the nomination of a representative for the effectuation of the first session, in written form. Likewise, by means of the same letter, the UNCJR forwarded to the Mures CC the draft convention having as object the identification and rental by the UNCJR of the spaces for the housing of the CC representative who would effectuate the training session.

The UNCJR letter to the president of the Mures CC, Lokodi Edita, specifies that for the employee sent for training, the budget will have to cover travel, one year rental of the apartment, per diem (35 Euros a day), technical equipment (computer and printer), but also the communication expenses (phone, internet).

Costly lobby

The procedure approved by the national organization stipulates that the duration of the training sessions will be ten weeks, first of these starting on October the 1st and will last until December 15th 2005. The trainees will participate in courses and seminars and will take part in events organized in Brussels by the European institutions. For all these, they will benefit from

public money, the estimated total cost for the first session being 8.040 Euros.

Given that each county council in Romania will spend “only” 5.000 Euros monthly for the representation in Brussels, an annual cost of over 2,5

million Euros results. Although there is a constant – logistic and financial –

support from the Delegation of the European Commission in Romania for the organization of training courses for the clerks of the local public administration, it was considered that these sessions could not take place in the country, at lower costs and with the same results. The president of the UNCJR, Liviu Nicolae Dragnea, explains the situations as follows: “There is no one to perform these sessions in the country. Of course, we could have tried to prepare a project for effectuating them in the country, with EU funds. Nobody prevented us from doing this, but a similar project takes two years until completion “, Liviu Dragnea declared.

On the other hand, the President of the CC, Lokodi Edita, declared us that she does not know the modalities the Delegation of the European Commission may support the organization of such courses. “Theoretically, the Delegation of the European

Commission provides support for these sessions, provided that they are organized as result of projects authorized by the ministries of resort. We do not fund our own projects directly, but the money is provided through ministries”, Iulia Enescu, the secretary of the public relations office of the Delegation of the European Commission in Romania declared. (I.O.)