Money and public procurement: how are financial allocations directed according to political colour?

Septimius Pârvu of EFOR said that between 2012 and 2016 the Government’s Reserve Fund and the National Local Development Programme were the main channels for arbitrary allocations. At the peak, in the second half of 2014 and in 2015, a mayor from the ruling party was at least twice as likely to receive money as an opposition mayor. Politically connected companies then win a significant share of the resulting contracts. He stressed that the pattern is regional, not specifically Romanian. Iurie Morcotîlo of Expert-Grup noted risks at all three stages of procurement in Chișinău, including collusion, corruption and projects budgeted on “political will”.

Expert-Grup and six regional partners will monitor transfers from the national budget to six Moldovan localities. Civil society, activists and journalists will watch for irregularities. The workshop gathered 11 representatives from 7 localities and was part of the CC-LIFT project, funded by Open Society Foundations.