Employment in local administrations has been largely neglected in terms of monitoring the implementation of key regulations and establishing standards in this area. Paradoxically, following the 2021 amendments to the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, which degraded employment conditions in state administration bodies, recruitment procedures have become comparatively more advanced at the local level than in other parts of the public sector (state administration, public enterprises and public institutions).
However, this “comparative advantage” is highly relative, as it stems solely from loose procedures and the absence of basic safeguards for merit-based recruitment in other sectors. Additionally, there have been several attempts to align employment conditions in local administrations with those at the state level, thereby effectively weakening them. The proposed Draft Law on Local Civil Servants and Employees partially realises these attempts, given that it offers the possibility for acting officials to be appointed from outside the local self-administration system, without prior checks.
The Government, taking into account suggestions from stakeholders, primarily municipalities, initiated the drafting of a dedicated Law on Local Officials, Civil Servants and Employees in 2024. According to the Ministry of Public Administration, which is leading this process, the Draft Law aims to improve local self-government by providing a clearer definition of the status of local officials and introducing the municipal manager as a key public official. Employment conditions are aligned with those at the state level, while flexible mechanisms are introduced to allow for a more efficient response to seasonal and development needs, such as the engagement of communal police officers and experts for development of EU-funded projects. The Draft also envisages scholarships for deficit occupations, the implementation of functional analyses of job positions, and greater mobility of civil servants through an internal labour market.
The Draft Law on Local Civil Servants and Employees was presented in October 2025, followed by a public consultation. Institute Alternative participated in the consultation. Below, we present an overview of our key recommendations and arguments as to why the proposed Draft Law not deliver the expected improvements unless certain procedures are more precisely defined and safeguards introduced to prevent abuse.