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Back Promoting Governance Excellence at all level levels of decentralised government in Romania

The first European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE) Awards ceremony was held in Bucharest, Romania on 11 May 2023 with 30 territorial administrative units being recognised for their good democratic governance standards.

Mr Marian Neacsu, Secretary General of the Government of Romania ,acknowledged the challenges faced by local authorities in Romania in measuring their performance against the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance.

This first cycle of ELoGE in Romania was launched in May 2022 and, following awareness-raising and capacity-building activities, local authorities were invited to indicate their intention to complete the self-assessment process, including surveying citizens and elected officials.

In the end, 30 local authorities from all across Romania representing all types of territorial administrative units - 4 county councils; 6 cities; 6 municipalities; and 14 communes – completed the process.

Mr Dan Popescu, Head of the Democracy and Governance Department of the Council of Europe, congratulated all 58 Romanian local authorities who embarked on the process. He stressed that the Council of Europe is committed to securing and strengthening democracy and good governance at all levels throughout Europe and recalled that the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance and the ELoGE Benchmark are a useful tool to contribute to this aim.

EloGE in Romania was implemented Romanian partners in close collaboration with the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance of the Council of Europe. In this context, Mr Popescu and Mr Neacsu held a bi-lateral meeting to discuss future cooperation with the Council of Europe.

ELoGE was awarded to the following local authorities in Romania:

Territorial administrative units