Romania faces a sweeping administrative reorganization plan that could reduce its 41 counties to just 15, cutting local government costs ahead of tighter European Union funding rules.
Shrinking From 41 to 15
PSD Vice President Dragoș Benea outlined the restructuring blueprint, explaining that the current county borders stem from 1968 and no longer match modern economic realities. Speaking on Digi24, Benea said that the reform aims to create stronger communities and improve European fund absorption.
“We proposed a mechanism of county reorganization committees that, based on a sustainability matrix, which includes six totally apolitical criteria, will lead to creating stronger communities, stronger regions, stronger cities,” said Dragoș Benea, PSD vice president.
The proposed restructuring models Romania’s map on the country’s 15 civil appeals court jurisdictions rather than the existing 41 counties, as Antena 3 reported. Under this scenario, administrative hubs would remain in cities like Oradea, Timișoara, Craiova, Constanța, Galați, Ploiești, Alba Iulia, Târgu Mureș, Bacău, Iași, Suceava, and Cluj-Napoca.
Meanwhile, smaller counties such as Satu Mare, Arad, Caraș-Severin, Olt, Gorj, Mehedinți, Tulcea, Dâmbovița, Buzău, Vaslui, Botoșani, and Neamț would merge into neighboring administrative units. In the Banat region, Timiș would remain a county, while Arad and Caraș-Severin could be absorbed. The reform is also supported by PSD leaders from Oltenia, including Craiova Mayor Lia Olguța Vasilescu and MEP Claudiu Manda.
Under Law No. 304/2022 on judicial organization, the courts of appeal seats and assigned counties are the courts in Alba Iulia, Pitești, Bacău, Oradea, Suceava, Brașov, Bucharest, Cluj, Constanța, Craiova, Galați, Iași, Târgu Mureș, Ploiești, and Timișoara.
EU Funding Pressures
European funding pressures drive the urgency behind the plan. Benea said that EU Cohesion funds for the 2028-2034 financial framework will face stiffer competition from defense and innovation priorities. Larger administrative units with higher populations will stand a better chance of securing these grants.
Parallel studies show that more than 1,400 communes nationwide fall below the 3,000-resident threshold and face potential dissolution or consolidation, according to data highlighted by Newsweek România. Among them is Prigor in Caraș-Severin County, the birthplace of PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu, which has 2,570 residents and struggles with administrative transparency.
Grindeanu revealed the name of his birth village in a Facebook post stating that he was home with family in the childhood village of Borlovenii Vechi in Caraș-Severin to attend the 200th anniversary of the village church. Communes with a population between 2,000 and 3,000 residents pay salaries of 1.5 million to 3.5 million lei. For example, Certeju de Sus, a commune with 2,800 residents, paid salaries of 3,500,000 lei per year.
Political Friction Ahead
Buzău Mayor Constantin Toma warned that the plan risks serving partisan electoral interests rather than genuine administrative efficiency.
“If this idea is from PSD, PSD is thinking two or three moves ahead. There will definitely be a PSD map for the 2028 elections,” said Constantin Toma, Buzău Mayor, speaking to Digi24, as reported by HotNews.ro.
According to Toma, there is a reasonable suspicion that the Social Democratic Party might draw the future electoral map where it could win as much as possible. Because the PSD has 22-23%, and up to 100% Romanians have chosen representatives from other parties as well, all representatives of Romanians should be involved, Toma concluded.
March 2027 Deadline
President Nicușor Dan voiced support for merging small, dysfunctional communes during a press conference reported by tvrinfo.ro, though he questioned whether a complete territorial redraw could realistically happen before upcoming local elections due to the complexity of the task.
Worth a look