Prefect (Romania)

A prefect (Romanian: prefect) in Romania represents the Government in each of the country's 41 counties, as well as the Municipality of Bucharest.

The office traces its origin to the ispravnici who held office in the Danubian Principalities before these united in 1859. Two laws of 1864 introduced the office of prefect into the new Romanian state, modelled on the French equivalent. Another law was enacted in 1872, while an 1883 law reduced the prefect's role to executing Government decisions. The office was strengthened by law in 1892; it was provided that "at the head of each county there is a prefect...named by royal decree, upon the recommendation of the Minister of the Interior...he represents the executive power in the entire district placed under his administration". The 1925 law for administrative unity regarded the prefect as the representative of the central authorities, with power to control local officials. Named by royal decree following a recommendation of the Interior Minister, the prefect, aside from fulfiling general conditions for civil servants, had to be at least thirty years of age and to have completed a state-recognised university. Prefects already in office for at least a year were exempt.

A 1929 law was the first to distinguish between appointed and elected local authorities. The prefect was no longer the head of the county administration, but the "representative of the government", charged with exercising "control and supervision over all local authorities". The central authorities named him; he represented executive power. The law created a new institution, the county administrative commission, and the prefect was its president. In 1936, a law was adopted enhancing the prefect's powers: he was now head of the county administration, supervising all cultural institutions and public services. He was also chief of police and of the gendarmerie. In 1938, following the imposition of a royal dictatorship by King Carol II (see National Renaissance Front), the counties' administrative autonomy was abolished in favour of the larger ţinuturi. The prefect, named by royal decree, became a career bureaucrat, able to name mayors of rural and non-resident urban communes and to designate ex officio members of the town councils. Under the dictatorship, prefects were active-duty military officers with the rank of colonel or higher.

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