Participatory budgeting in 2024 has set several negative records, further highlighting the program’s decline in Romania’s major cities. Only 10 county capitals implemented participatory budgeting programs in the past year. Unfortunately, in Bucharest, not a single district city hall continues to run such a program. Over the past year, eight local administrations have abandoned the initiative, only one has introduced it for the first time, and two others have resumed it.
In 2024, participatory budgeting programs had a total budget of just 15.05 million RON, compared to 22.95 million RON in 2023 and 40.71 million RON in 2022. These figures represent maximum allocations, as in most cases, funds are not fully used—projects are postponed, or some city halls fail to implement the program altogether. Unfortunately, almost no municipality publishes disaggregated data on project completion rates or the financial allocations used. The significant budget reduction highlights the widespread lack of interest among local administrations in this initiative.
Why participatory budgeting fails in Romania
This inconsistency in implementing the program is often due to a lack of commitment and poor preparation by local administrations. Participatory budgeting receives little support at any stage, whether in promotion, project selection, eligibility verification, or implementation. This often results in low participation rates and few eligible projects. The execution of selected projects is affected by delays, eligibility issues, and ultimately, the failure to meet deadlines—or even the complete abandonment of the program. Many local governments have used participatory budgeting as a PR exercise without successfully completing a single edition or project.
Cities implementing participatory budgeting
Timișoara, Reșița, Bistrița, Sibiu, Brașov, Oradea, Tulcea, Târgu Mureș, Miercurea Ciuc, and Pitești have run participatory budgeting programs in 2024. The number of participating cities is so low that they nearly fit on a single line.
Timișoara continues to lead for the third consecutive year with the best participatory budgeting program in Romania. We dedicate a separate section to detailing how Timișoara’s administration not only ensures program visibility and high participation rates but also successfully implements submitted projects. Reșița is running its first participatory budgeting exercise, and we wish them success—early results are promising. Sibiu has resumed its participatory budgeting program after a four-year break. Meanwhile, Târgu Mureș, Oradea, and Brașov deserve recognition for their consistency in recent years and for maintaining relatively strong public interest in the program.
The full report, Participatory Budgeting in Romania: A new decline in 2024, is available here in Romanian language.
CRPE and participatory budgeting
At CRPE, we have been writing about participatory budgeting for many years. We value this tool and believe it can make a difference in our cities. We hope more local administrations will adopt it and that, in future monitoring reports, we will bring positive news.
Bugetarea participativă în 2022. Analiza reședințelor de județ
Bugetarea participativă în București (2022)
Bugetarea participativă. Idei pentru regulamente (puțin mai) bune
What participatory budgeting looks like in Romania (2023)
Participatory budgeting in Bucharest in 2022
About this report
This report is part of the EmpowerYouth project: Supporting youth organizations in influencing decision-making on youth-relevant issues.
Funded by the European Union. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the funding authority can be held responsible for them.