Romanian PM Bolojan to reportedly step down unless ruling coalition accepts cutting local administration staff

Prime minister Ilie Bolojan threatened to resign from office unless the ruling coalition backs a significant reduction of the local administration staff, according to sources consulted by G4media.ro.

Bolojan conditioned his stay in office on the adoption of a reform in local administration that would lead to the dismissal of at least 17,000 civil servants from what he considers an overly overburdened apparatus. In response, PSD, UDMR, and the minorities demanded a more detailed analysis of the measures.

The minister of development's initial proposal was to cut 25% of the maximum number of positions established by law for city halls and county councils, which is nearly 180,000 positions nationwide. However, this would have resulted in retaining all employees in their current positions.

A 45% cut in the total number of positions (70,000 positions) in local administration would result in only 17,000 fewer employees.

However, at stake is more than the number of employees who have to leave their positions (a delicate topic in itself): the size of top management and the budget of local administrative institutions depend on the number of positions – filled or not.

(Photo source: Gov.ro)