Electoral debates in Bucharest are filled with promises that have little to do with the actual powers of the office. Many candidates announce projects that are legally impossible or outside their direct authority, but that “sound good.” To judge the electoral offer realistically, you need to understand the administrative structure: what a mayor is legally allowed to decide, and what belongs to the realm of populist messaging.

The mayor is not the absolute head of the city.
 The role is executive, not legislative. Real power is shared between the mayor, the local (or general) council, the administrative apparatus, subordinate institutions, public procurement laws, urban planning regulations, and the approved budget. In Bucharest, the picture is even more fragmented: the General Mayor and the six Sector Mayors each have separate, sometimes overlapping, sometimes completely distinct competencies.

What a mayor can legally decide

1. Proposes and implements the local budget
The mayor prepares the budget draft, submits it to the council, and implements it once approved. They cannot allocate major funds unilaterally; expenditures are approved by the council and carried out under fiscal law.

2. Initiates and signs procurement contracts, but cannot decide freely
The mayor can launch procedures and sign contracts, but the entire process is strictly regulated by public procurement law (with required stages, deadlines, appeals, and audits).
They cannot “skip the tender,” “give contracts directly,” or pick a contractor at will. Procedures are mandatory; ignoring them leads to annulled projects or criminal cases.

3. Manages the administrative apparatus and subordinate services
This includes the technical departments, public services, and municipal companies.
The mayor can appoint, replace, or sanction department heads, within the limits of labor legislation and the status of public servants.

4. Issues administrative orders
These are executive acts within the scope of the office.
Examples: temporary traffic restrictions, limited public order measures, approvals for events, civil protection decisions.

5. Can propose draft council decisions
But cannot adopt them. The local or general council votes.
The mayor proposes; councillors decide.

6. Can modify the internal organization of city hall
Reorganizations, mergers, closures of departments—only with council approval.
They cannot “fire half the staff” based on a public statement.

7. Has defined responsibilities in urban planning (within limits)
The mayor can sign building permits after a mandatory technical process.
They cannot approve zoning plans (PUZ) alone. These are adopted by the council, based on documentation prepared by architects, urban planners, and technical commissions.

8. Can sign financing contracts (EU funds or government funds)
But only for projects already approved by the council and compliant with funding rules.

What a mayor cannot decide, no matter what is promised during the campaign

1. Cannot change national laws, codes, taxes, or the rules of other institutions
Promises that require legislative changes (Traffic Code, Labor Code, ISU norms, property law) are impossible at local level.

2. Cannot control institutions outside their subordination
Romanian Police, ISU, National Roads Company, CFR, Metrorex, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Education.
Any promise involving “I will make the Police…” or “I will fix the metro line…” is false.

3. Cannot approve zoning plans alone or alter land-use regulations
Urbanism law requires a complex process: technical commissions, public consultations, approvals, council vote.
Promises like “I will stop all constructions” or “I will unblock everything in 3 months” ignore the legal framework.

4. Cannot increase or cut local taxes without council approval
The mayor proposes. The council approves.
Radical tax promises are electoral rhetoric.

5. Cannot unilaterally reshape traffic rules
Major changes—one-way systems, dedicated lanes, pedestrian areas—require traffic studies, approval from the Traffic Police, and a council vote.

6. Cannot release funds “on the spot” for urgent projects
There are legal requirements for substantiation, verification, procedures, audits, and internal control.
“We’ll fix everything in a month” is impossible.

7. Cannot control the judiciary, ANAP, the Court of Accounts, ANI, or the Prefect
These institutions can block, verify, suspend, or annul administrative acts.

8. Cannot make unilateral decisions about schools
Buildings are managed by the Sector City Halls in Bucharest, while educational programs are decided by the Ministry of Education.
The General Mayor does not decide renovations or equipment for schools. Sector mayors do not decide curriculum.

The biggest confusion: Bucharest has two administrative poles

Bucharest City Hall (PMB)
• metropolitan public transport
• district heating
• major boulevards
• large citywide investments
• general urban planning (PUG, major PUZs)

Sector City Halls
• small green spaces
• sanitation
• schools
• residential parking
• secondary street repairs
• housing and social services

When candidates promise “school renovations” at PMB or “new trams” at the sectors, these are structurally impossible commitments.

Why these limits matter

Impossible promises signal administrative incompetence. Unrealistic expectations turn into frustration, and frustration produces electoral cycles in which any mayor appears “incompetent,” even when many promises were never within the legal scope of the role.

A correct evaluation of a candidate starts with a simple question:
 “Is this promise legally within the mayor’s authority?”

If the answer is no, the promise is political marketing, nothing more.

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