In the case of the NRRP, whilst there is an ongoing discussion on the low absorption rate and how priorities are being set, we took a deeper look into how central authorities decide on all aspects of the Plan, starting from the proposed schedule and reforms linked to each financial allocation and ending with the obscure legislative processes that allow the Parliament and Government to claim they tick all the required boxes (more details here). By passing impactful legislation and defining a framework without involving stakeholders, central authorities don’t take into account the real needs of municipalities; while local authorities should benefit from this program, they have to fit its requirements instead of the framework being written for them. 

In order to have an overview on how funds are directed towards local authorities, Funky Citizens analyses the state budget and those of municipalities, including Bucharest, on a yearly basis, as part of our current work and other project-based work. Our work primarily relies on desk research and data analysis, since we work with raw data that we process according to a methodology and then we use the conclusions gathered to either publish papers on the topic (see those mentioned previously) or to consult/ interview stakeholders. Each year, we publish case studies on budget-related topics on a national and municipal level (for the last couple of years, we measured the transparency levels of budgetary proceedings for the main 103 municipalities in Romania, while also publishing our analysis on the state budget and on Bucharest’s budget). In the case of the NRF analysis, the desk research was doubled by a series of interviews with representatives from five municipalities, in order to thoroughly measure the impact of the pandemic and recovery funding on said communities.