Expenses with the trips abroad made by mayors and other local administration officials constantly soared over the last seven years, as they increased by more than 260 pc during the interval, Mediafax reports. As a consequence, hundreds of millions of RON are paid each year from the budget for such visits. In the same interval, protocol expenses soared by 87 pc throughout the local public administration and by 29 pc in the case of the consolidated budget. The government recently passed an emergency ordinance that compels the leaders of central and local public institutions, regardless of how they are financed and subordinated, to diminish by 30 pc protocol expenses and the sums paid for trips abroad, in the second half of this year, compared to the similar interval of 2011. The only exemption is represented by the protocol and trip expenses for projects financed with foreign non-reimbursable funds.
