In Romania, the adoption of the MLG model began with a process of decentralization of various powers of central public authorities and the establishment of development regions. Although substantial progress has been made, there are still a number of difficulties in terms of the development of decision-making structures. The main reasons are primarily related to the lack of political support. A relevant example is the regionalization process, which currently responds more to functional requirements – attracting European funds and preparing management capacity development programs – than to real decision-making and policy implementation functions. Despite these difficulties, there are initiatives, coupled with economic pressure, to strengthen the role of development regions and, with them, the development of the third level, alongside the other two existing ones: central and local.

The elements of the European MLG model are also found in different proportions in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which recently joined the EU after 1990. Thus, different forms of regionalism were created in these countries, in order to support economic and social development. An important role in the emergence of these incipient forms of the MLG model was played by the conditions imposed by the pre-accession programs and access to structural funds, as well as the efforts supported by the EU in this regard.

Law 151/1998, which established the eight development regions intended for the implementation and evaluation of regional development policies, resulted from the analysis presented in the Green Charter of Regional Development (1997). This strategic document was developed within the PHARE program, financed by the European Union and the Government of Romania, with technical assistance from international experts. Within the framework of the programme, a regional policy working group was set up, consisting of representatives of key ministries and regional authorities, which supervised the implementation of the activities. The proposed policy pursued three main objectives:

a) preparing Romania for alignment with European Union requirements and accessing European structural funds;

b) reducing regional disparities;

c) integrating public sector activities to enable regions to reach an advanced level of development.

The resulting regions, whose composition is specified only in Law 315/2004, represent associations of counties without legal personality, with statistical and regional development purposes, for the management and implementation of pre-accession and post-accession funds. The regions also have no fiscal or/and political power, being rather task-oriented.

The European institutions define the concept of a region differently. The Council of Europe describes it as a medium-sized, homogeneous and geographically determinable territory, while the E.U. considers it an administrative unit immediately inferior to the national state. In Romania, the county falls within the definition of a region according to the Assembly of European Regions, having a County Council and an elected president, but for the EU, the county is a NUTS 3 unit, smaller than a region. The 8 development regions do not correspond to the Council of Europe criteria for regions. At regional level, the Regional Development Agency (executive) and the Regional Development Council (deliberative) operate. Development regions do not have their own legal status and only coordinate regional programs managed by Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). RDAs are non-profit and non-governmental organizations, responsible for implementing and monitoring development policies at regional level. Unlike local administrative units, which elect their leadership by vote, regional structures are not democratically elected, which gives them reduced legitimacy. Regional development policy is coordinated at national level by the National Regional Development Council and the Ministry of Development (CNDR).

During the pre-accession period, the European Union encouraged Romania to decentralize authority in order to strengthen local administrative capacity and facilitate the involvement of regional and local authorities. However, after accession, the process was partially reversed, with a return to centralization through ministries, managed through structures such as the CNDR (National Council for Regional Development) and the FDR (Regional Development Fund). The weak capacity of regional structures to develop effective policies and the low absorption of pre-accession funds contributed to this recentralization.

In order to support decentralization, Romania adopted Law 195/2006, which defines the essential principles of this process, including subsidiarity, ensuring adequate resources and accountability of local authorities. In theory, decentralization should offer clear benefits, such as better adaptation to local needs and increased transparency, but its implementation has had ambiguous results. Although decentralization has led to increased local budgets, it has also accentuated regional inequalities, as resources remain concentrated in large urban agglomerations. The main obstacles include the lack of a clear demarcation of responsibilities between different levels of government and the lack of monitoring mechanisms. Despite these limitations, the functioning of the multi-level governance system is nevertheless supported through a number of distinct channels: the constraint exerted by EU legislation, the takeover of European models and institutional adaptation.

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