Romanian Municipalities Association:

Ghişeul.ro and Solidaritate.com were the projects that held the frontlines of the General Assembly of RMA. 

Tirgu Mures, May 19, 2011 – The General Assembly of the Romanian Municipalities Association, held these days in Tirgu Mures, revealed the fact that the local governments are interested in using the digital instruments in addressing the needs with which they and their citizens are facing.

The event was attended by mayors of the main municipalities, together with Traian Igaş, the Minister of Administration and Interior, Valerian Vreme, the Minister of Communications and Information Society and Adrian Apolzan, the President of Electronic Payments Association in Romania (APERO).

The Minister Valerian Vreme has talked about the benefits that Ghişeul.ro offers to the municipalities and citizens. The citizen is to gain economies of time and money, thanks to the possibility to make payments anywhere, anytime, including with cards issued by foreign banks. The municipalities benefit, in turn, from this system by reducing the time of taxes collection and the collection costs.

Currently, in the National System of Online Electronic Payment of taxes via bank card - Ghişeul.ro are present the Tirgu Mures City Hall, the City Hall of the 2^nd and 6^th Sector of Bucharest, and are about to enroll: Arad, Baia Mare, Brasov and Zalau. Thus, at the national level, Ghişeul.ro will soon cover over a million inhabitants.

"After the discussions that we had with many mayors from all over the country, I have the confirmation on the interest for NSEP-Ghiseul.ro in the cities they administrate, and assured us of their enrollment in time. The citizens of these cities will gain comfort and won’t have anymore the stress caused by the endless queues or the inherent problems of the systems that they were used until now. On the other hand, the municipalities will collect taxes on time, while having real-time financial records, "said the Minister of Communications.

"RMA realizes the benefits that Ghişeul.ro brings both to the citizens and local governments. I can say that, within RMA, the mayors have confirmed that they will immediately begin the enrollment process, "said Tudor Pendiuc, the Mayor of Pitesti - the new President of RMA.

During the General Assembly of RMA, the Electronic Payments Association in Romania (APERO) handed, through the President Adrian Aplozan, diplomas of excellence in promoting the payment of taxes via bank card. The rewarded municipalities were Arad, Baia Mare and Oradea, which gathered thousands of online payments.

The Soldaritate.com project presented by Tirgu Mures municipality as part of the Digital Mures project, has generated particular interest due to the extraordinary effectiveness that this system offers. Solidaritate.com is intended to be the quick instrument to collect aid funds in the case of disasters. By its promoting, and by offering the immediate contribution possibility, including to the Romanians from abroad or to people of other countries, Solidaritate.com can collect large amounts of money and can significantly shorten the reaction time from 1-2 weeks to 1 - 2 days.

"We believe that this project, through all the municipalities, will be the best system of collecting donations that complement the authorities’ actions” said Dorin Florea the Mayor of Tirgu Mures and Vice President of RMA. "We already have the support of banks and international card schemes."