The Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of the law on salaries in the public sector.
The Constitutional Court of Romania has decided that the law amending the ordinance on the salaries of public sector employees is constitutional, thus ruling against the notifications filed by the National Liberal Party and the Government. The decision is final and binding. The Government and 65 Liberal MPs have questioned the constitutionality of the law on the salaries of public sector employees. On November 7th, the Chamber of Deputies passed an emergency ordinance, subsequently amended by advisory committees, providing for an average 15% salary increase in the education and healthcare sectors.
On November 8th, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said the Government would challenge the law at the Constitutional Court, claiming the amendments had been passed for purely populist reasons, with the aim of attracting more votes ahead of the elections, and drawn up without any due analysis or public debate. Dacian Ciolos said the law risked preventing any future Government from adopting a law on a single salary scheme, which should solve the inequities existing in the public sector. The Prime Minister went on to say that MPs clearly knew about the Law on fiscal and budget accountability, according to which no legislation on salary increases can be passed six months ahead of any scheduled parliamentary elections. According to Dacian Ciolos, the law clearly stipulates that public institutions are forbidden from passing such laws, and Parliament is a public institution.
Romania's President Klaus Iohannis has already decided to sign the bill into law. Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the Social-Democratic Party, which won the parliamentary elections by a large margin and spearheaded this law despite Government opposition, has voiced readiness to apply the new measures regarding salary increases as of January 1. Dragnea has stated that the Social-Democratic Party had taken into account these increases when drafting the budget presented during the election campaign, just like it did with the increase in the gross minimum salary to 1,450 lei, also starting January 1, 2017.
The former campaign manager of the National Liberal Party, Gheorghe Falca, referring to the Court's decision to rule against the Liberals' notification, has stated that he is "always happy when salaries in the administration go up", adding however that he still expects a single salary law that should deal away with the inequities in the system, along with a gradual increase in salaries in the local and central public administration, reflecting Romania's economic growth. In turn, Labour Minister Dragos Pislaru, who originally opposed the measures, commented on the Court's decision, saying that "resources are limited" and "someone will have to foot the bill, either other categories of public sector employees or everyone else".
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