Organisation and Functioning of Public Authorities
What this domain tests
Who does what in the Moldovan state: Parliament, the President, the Government, ministries and agencies, and the division between central and local administration.
Core rules
- Parliament legislates and controls the executive; the Government (Law No. 136/2017) is the supreme executive body and adopts decisions and ordinances to implement law.
- Ministries are central specialised bodies that lead a sector, draft policy and issue orders; the State Chancellery coordinates and checks legality; agencies and deconcentrated services operate under them.
- Local public administration (Law No. 436/2006): district and local councils are deliberative, the mayor is the executive; the council secretary, a public servant, verifies the legality of council acts.
- The State Chancellery's territorial offices supervise the legality of local acts - the control is of legality, not of opportunity.
- Local autonomy, decentralisation, deconcentration and delegation are distinct: only the first two transfer competence to elected bodies.
- Gagauzia has a special legal status under its own statute; administrative-territorial units are districts, municipalities, towns and villages or communes.
Worked example
A district council adopts a decision obliging a mayor to close a local market. Step 1: markets fall within the local council's competence, not the district's. Step 2: the district council acted outside its competence. Step 3: the secretary flags the illegality, the decision can be suspended and contested, and the mayor is not bound to execute it.
Traps that cost marks
Thinking deconcentration is decentralisation; assuming a district council may instruct a mayor on local matters; confusing legality control by the State Chancellery with a merits appeal; forgetting the council secretary's legality role.