Romanian President scolds Govt. on new public payroll law

The effects of the new public payroll law, three months from it entering into force, show that the law is in contradiction with equality and predictability principles, President Klaus Iohannis said in a statement after his meeting with prime minister Viorica Dancila and labor minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu on April 3. The contradiction occurs because of the exceptions made for several personnel categories, which “cancel the unitary character of the legislative intent.” At the same time, the statement points to the salary decreases for several personnel categories after the transfer of the social contributions from employers to employees. It also argues that the current framework “is getting further away from the demands of the put in work and ends up valuing the membership of the personnel to one institution or another.” The transfer of the social contributions and the reduction of the individual income tax from 16% to 10% have led so far to a modest, 5% increase on average of net salaries in the public sector, the Presidency explained. However, even this small increase “is canceled by an intensified inflation, which reached 4.7% in February 2018.” In this respect, President Iohannis asked the government to show caution in how it approaches economic policies, “so that the sustainability of the citizen’s standard of living is maintained.” The President also pointed to the lack of predictability in establishing the salary rights mechanisms as long as new amendments for various personnel categories are made, introducing “salary discriminations and encouraging similar demands from other personnel categories, with risks to meeting the budget targets assumed by the Government.” In her turn, prime minister Dancila said she was surprised to read the Presidency’s statement as the talks she had with the president had been different. She asked the Presidency to release the minutes of that meeting. “I am surprised by that statement but I don’t want us to be in the situation of believing what Mr. President wrote in the statement or what I am saying. I think it would be best if Mr. President showed the minutes of the meeting and then we would all be clear on this,” she said. At the meeting with Iohannis, the prime minister offered reassurances concerning the financial resources needed for the implementation of the public payroll law and for the salary increases assumed so far, according to the statement from the Presidency. Romanian Govt. to increase doctors’ salaries by over 70% Romanian prosecutors to challenge payroll law at the Constitutional Court Protests again payroll law take place all over Romania (Photo: presidency.ro)