Prime Minister-designate Siegfried Muresan announced that he would propose in the governing programme a voluntary merger of communes, thus taking over the model implemented in the Republic of Moldova.

'Unfortunately, politicians in the past have always had a superiority complex in relation with the Republic of Moldova. However, today, after Maia Sandu has been president for some years and after five years of pro-European governance, the Republic of Moldova is ahead of us in some areas and we must learn from the Republic of Moldova. They have made a voluntary merger of communes this year. I will propose the same thing in the governing programme. I will propose a voluntary merger of communes in Romania, so that they become more efficient, be able to absorb European funds faster, be able to provide high-quality public services to the people,' Muresan told RFI Romania on Monday.

At the same time, he criticised the National Authority for Citizenship for the accumulated delays and announced he wished to carry out a reform of the institution.

'People in the Republic of Moldova have legitimate expectations. They wait way too much for the Romanian citizenship. We have this dysfunctional Authority for Citizenship that accumulates a series of delays. We shall reform this Authority for Citizenship, in order to faster issue citizenship status for Romanians in the Republic of Moldova,' Siegfried Muresan pointed out.

In another train of thought, he said he envisaged a reform of state-owned companies and mergers of some institutions in the central administration.

'My essential objective is to redefine the relation between the citizen and the state. Until now, people have worked for the state, people have worked to pay fees and taxes, and... decisions on what happens with the fees and taxes, in many state-owned companies, in many enterprises, in many institutions, are not to the citizens' interest. That is why we shall have a modern state, a streamlined state, a reform of the state-owned companies, a merger of some institutions in the central administration that are too big, too dense and doing too little for the people,' the MEP added. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Irinela Visan; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)