arhiva » Anul 1998 » Numarul 1(1) din 1998
THE PREFECTURE - A BRIDGE BETWEEN THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND THE LOCAL PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
For Romania the 1989 revolution meant a complete change of the old political system and the emergence of a new one, based on the separation of powers in the state, on human rights and individual freedom.
This social and politic system included all state institutions and, of course, the public administration system was affected, too.
In the latest years, through different laws and regulations and because of the new
Constitution (adopted through popular referendum in December 1991) the state institutions and the public authorities were restructured, all of them being very necessary for a democratic society.
The aim of this paper is to study this institution and its fundamental role in the transition from a centralized state and society toward a civil society and a state structure that allows the local autonomy. The prefecture represents the link between the central and the local public administration, it is a factor that protects the national interests at county level and an authority that supervise the respect the correctness -from a legal point of view- of the activity of the local public administration.
The Romanian legal framework created after 1989 for the public administration is based upon the principles of local autonomy and decentralization of the public services but these principles are not yet fully integrated in the administrative practice thus we consider necessary to briefly describe the characteristics of decentralization of the public services.
