Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 27th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview WG6: Evidence-Based Public Policy Making Author(s) Bianca Radu Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca Romania Title Empirical Insights into the Decision-making Process at Municipal and County Level in Romania File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Bianca Radu Abstract The paper aims to analyze the process of decision making at municipal and county level in Romania by analyzing the transcripts of the Local Councils and County Councils meetings from North-West Region between 2017 and 2018. In particular, we will analyze whether public institutions meet the transparency provisions with regard to publicly announcing the draft legislative proposals 30 days in advance of being subject to voting in the council meeting, whether public institutions post online all the documents that justify the draft legislative proposals, and announce the citizens when and to whom they can send recommendations. In addition, we will analyze the participation of different stakeholders in the decision-making process: whether citizens formulate policy recommendations on the draft legislative proposals, and the extent of citizens’ participation during council meetings. We aim to identify whether citizens and representatives of other organizations voice recommendations during council meetings and whether councilors include their proposals in final form of the legislative acts. We aim to extract all the information from the transcripts of the municipal and county council meetings and draft legislative proposals, which are posted online on the public institutions’ webpages, and to conclude on whether proposals are based on sound evidences and analyses, and whether broader consultations are conducted before decisions are made. In addition to analyzing the implementation of the legal provisions regarding the decision-making process, we will collect information about whether public institutions collaborate with external experts in order to increase the expertise and the quality of the decision-making process.
