The CCR found two bills unconstitutional, adopted in late May, which increased the salaries of some budget officials and instituted new increases
The president of the CCR, Marian Enache PHOTO Mediafax
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At the end of May, Parliament adopted two projects through which new increases are introduced in some ministries, some up to 50% of the basic salary, as well as an increase of several hundred lei in the salaries of all budget officials. The two bills were challenged by the RCC, and the constitutional magistrates considered the legislative acts unconstitutional.
In the first bill, a 50% increase was introduced for the staff of entities working with repayable funds, currently this increase is only granted to those working on projects with non-repayable funds. It is one of the provisions attached to the project since the Senate.
Another amendment provides for a 25% increase in the basic salary for employees of the Ministry of Transport, as well as for civil servants of the Ministry of Culture.
Last but not least, through this project the employees of the decentralized public services of the institutions of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Transport will receive a 15% increase in the basic salary, due to the “complexity of the work”. They also attached to this bill a provision whereby parliamentary officials can suspend their service relationship for up to seven years, currently no deadline has been mentioned. The provision is mainly aimed at those who, for example, are seconded to other bodies, which happens above all in the case of those who leave for positions of high official, but where they are appointed, not through insolvency proceedings.
“Balance”, the new buzzword for magnification
“It is not a question of increasing increases or salaries, but of balancing the increases between the ministries. Two ministries did not have the same level of increases “, was the explanation provided by the PSD parent company, Alfred Simonis, for the introduction of new increases. Florin Roman (PNL), vice president of the Chamber, explained instead that if these increases are not given, Romania risks losing the transport engineers.
The second project is aimed at all state employees, it is not dedicated to different categories of public employees. More precisely, through this second project, of which the initiators were those of the PSD, from 1 July 2022 all the workers on the balance sheet will receive an increase of a quarter of the difference between the basic salary provided for by the Framework Law n.153 / 2017 for the year 2022. More precisely, with a net salary of 2,500 lei, the increase will be about 150.
Last but not least, the elected officials added a provision that would increase the salaries for local elected officials, i.e. update them, so that the reporting is at the minimum wage of 2,300 lei, not 2,080. In practice, it would have meant a 10% increase.
The new ordinance
The government adopted an emergency ordinance in late August to increase wage increases for all budget officials, as bills were feared to fall in the CCR. Their estimate was correct. But in the form of the OUG there have been no new increases, not even for those working on PNRR.
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