Restructuring plans spark protests

The reorganisation of central public institutions and state-owned companies fuel discontent among employees.

Roxana Vasile, 23.01.2025, 14:00

A huge deficit and a European Commission hanging over the government like a sword of Damocles, insisting that Bucharest take measures to reduce it, are prompting the Romanian coalition government to take very unpopular decisions already.

After many public sector employees saw their inflation adjustments and salary increases frozen under a government order at the beginning of 2025, and after public pensions were no longer adjusted to the inflation rate, as previously promised, these days the news came of a reorganisation of central public institutions and state-owned companies.

On Wednesday, the Parliament leaders announced that the number of civil servants would be reduced by approximately 400, which led to a spontaneous protest of Parliament staff in the halls of the institution. The Liberal Ilie Bolojan, speaker of the Senate, announced that about 180 civil servant posts out of a total of nearly 800 will be slashed in that chamber, and the car fleet or fuel quota will be cut down. Ilie Bolojan:

Ilie Bolojan: “Instead of 796 positions in all at present, we will have around 618 positions. The colleagues who will leave will not be dismissed by anyone. Where the number of executive positions will be cut down, under the law, competitions will be organised. I guarantee that there will be no political influence whatsoever.”

In the Chamber of Deputies as well, over 200 posts out of a roughly 1,100 will be cut, said the Social Democratic speaker of the Chamber, Ciprian Şerban.

Save Romania Union has asked the leaders of the governing coalition comprising the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania to make public all the measures to reduce government spending, as well as the personnel selection criteria, “to ensure that the people who are kept on are competent, and not just party followers.”

In turn, several trade union federations have voiced support for the Parliament employees in danger of losing their jobs. The National Federation of Public Administration Trade Unions sees the way in which the restructuring measures are taken and communicated as abusive and non-transparent, while the leaders of the Union of Parliamentary Civil Servants and the Union of Contracted Personnel claim that the reorganisation lacks fairness.

Romanians have mixed feelings about the move. While some applaud the measures, others are against them, arguing that the reduction in the number of positions in Parliament should start with the senators and deputies themselves, based on a 2009 referendum on the transition to a single-chamber parliament of 300 seats.

In the last 4 years, the number of public sector employees has increased by 56,000, claim those who support the government’s actions. In contrast, others argue that public sector employees include, for example, employees in education, healthcare, the army and the police, sectors which have been complaining about staff shortages for years. (AMP)