The Bucharest Court of Appeal suspended the public consultation procedure for Romania’s draft public sector Wage Law on Tuesday, July 21, following a request from the Sanitas trade union, according to the court minutes cited by G4media.ro. The ruling can be appealed by the Ministry of Labour and would temporarily block the consultation process linked to the legislation.

The Ministry of Labour said the procedure was not a legislative initiative but part of its mediation role under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) milestone on public sector remuneration reform.

"In exercising its role as coordinator of the milestone in the PNRR regarding the remuneration of personnel paid from public funds, the Labour Ministry aimed to ensure technical and methodological support based on the widest possible consultations, which would ensure a solid foundation for the future reform and could be made available to political parties and members of the Romanian Parliament," the ministry said.

The court decision followed a complaint filed by the Sanitas union, which argued that the suspension would effectively halt the preparation of the Wage Law.

The hearing minutes published by the Bucharest Court of Appeal state that the court "suspends the procedure of the draft law on the remuneration of personnel paid from public funds, published on the defendant's website on July 17, 2026, under the Press Releases section".

The Ministry of Labour said it was not summoned as a party in the case and announced that it would appeal the ruling.

The dispute comes as the Wage Law represents one of the legislative milestones under Romania’s PNRR, with reforms in this area linked to access to remaining European Recovery and Resilience Facility grants. Opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Sorin Grindeanu has previously argued that drafting the law is the responsibility of the government.

Under Romanian law, draft legislation can be challenged before the Constitutional Court only after it has been adopted by Parliament.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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