Romanian president Nicușor Dan announced the temporary failure of the negotiations on the public sector Wage Law on the evening of August 26, stressing that he had been mediating discussions between PSD, PNL, USR and UDMR since May. Romania was supposed to legislate the Wage Law for the budgetary sector by the end of August, linked to a EUR 770 million grant under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

“Unfortunately, despite intense negotiations in recent months, the four parties have not reached a political and social consensus on the law,” said Nicușor Dan.

Separately, president Dan assured that “the law was almost finalised from a technical point of view” and that “the parties assumed the need to adopt the law by the end of this year and to comply, through the future salary law, with the salary envelope agreed with the European Commission.”

President Dan also saw a silver lining amid the major failure in the first relevant attempt to conduct genuine reform during his term, which has coincided with the term of the now-failed centrist ruling coalition. “I must, however, note the willingness to engage in dialogue shown by the parties and ministerial teams, who have carried out intensive work,” president Dan said.

President Dan did not elaborate on the specific obstacles that prevented the negotiations from reaching a result.

The president claimed that the four centrist parties have “jointly assumed, according to the political agreement, the loss of the EUR 770 million related to this PNRR milestone.”

“It should also be noted that the parties respected their commitment not to submit a separate draft law to Parliament, jointly assuming, according to the political agreement, the loss of the EUR 770 million related to this PNRR milestone,” he said.

G4media.ro reported that the Social Democrats (PSD) have categorically opposed the project, which was repeatedly reworked by interim minister of labour Dragoș Pîslaru. The Hungarian party UDMR also rejected the project during the negotiations mediated by the Presidency, according to G4media.ro. The former PSD minister of labour, Florin Manole (who left the cabinet at the end of April), like his Social Democrat predecessors who have overseen the ministry in recent years, did not come up with any project.

The new wage law for the budgetary sector will still be drafted by the end of the year, the Presidency assured.

“Most importantly, the parties assumed the need to adopt the law by the end of this year and to comply, through the future salary law, with the salary envelope agreed with the European Commission,” he said.

This envelope will not be sufficient to meet all union demands, president Dan admitted, adding that “the law was almost finalised.”

“The work carried out in these months, and the discussions with the unions, have clarified many technical aspects, with the law being almost finalised from a technical point of view. The political decision of the parties will determine how the salary envelope will be distributed among the different professional categories and, implicitly, the level of income for each professional category in the budgetary system.”

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)