Bucharest mayor announces major restructuring, 700 positions to be eliminated
Over 700 positions within the City Hall of Bucharest and its subordinate institutions could be eliminated according to a plan put forward by mayor Ciprian Ciucu on Thursday, March 26.
The institution is in dire financial straits. Earlier this month, the mayor said that Bucharest reached an “extremely bad” situation because the former Social Democratic-led Marcel Ciolacu government reduced the sums allocated to the city in the 2024-2025 period by a total of EUR 7.5 billion. In April, the City Hall will have to pay back RON 150 million in dues for past loans.
In this context, the mayor highlighted the need to shed inefficient municipal institutions and cut costs. As part of the restructuring, 771 positions will be eliminated, and roughly 400 employees will be let go. In this way, the city will save RON 27.9 million (EUR 5.3 million) annually.
“The City Hall of Bucharest currently has around 1,272 positions, a very, very large number of employees compared to actual needs. This city hall has not been genuinely reorganized until now,” he said during a live transmission cited by Euronews Romania.
The institution is also obliged to reduce its workforce due to a recent government ordinance. “If we did not do this, the Bucharest City Hall, like any other institution in the country, would not receive government allocations. So it is a legal obligation to do this. Additionally, we must implement Law 296 of 2023, which provides for cuts of 10% of positions and the merging of public institutions with fewer positions,” explained the mayor.
Ciucu announced that there are three sets of institutions that will enter this reorganization. The City Hall itself will let go of about 170 employees.
“Another category of institutions consists of cultural bodies. We will merge no fewer than seven institutions that have different programs, some of them valuable, and we intend to preserve them,” he said. At the end of the process, these institutions will total only 155 positions out of the current 267.
Finally, three more institutions that manage Bucharest’s green spaces will be restructured: ALPAB, the administration of lakes, parks, and recreation in Bucharest, which maintains the parks; the Plant Protection Center; and the Cemetery Administration. Only 511 positions will remain in these institutions out of the total 771 currently.
Bucharest City Hall and the General Council oversee roughly 71 institutions. Over 8,000 people work in these bodies.
“This huge administrative tangle is not effectively functional,” the mayor said, emphasizing the need for efficient organizational charts based on real needs.
(Photo source: Inquam Photos | George Calin)
