The Senate approved on Wednesday an increase in the allowances of high-ranking officials and a 25% increase in allowances for public employees participating in the legislative process. These are the allowances of the president, ministries, parliamentarians, mayors, heads of district and local councils, as well as civil servants who serve them.

With 91 votes “for” (PSD, PNL and UDMR) and 22 “against” (USR), the senators gave the green light to the increase on the same day when the Constitutional Court, at the request of the USR, declared unconstitutional two bills with the same purpose, namely the increase of wages dignitaries

On Wednesday morning, CCR judges ruled that the salary increase in the state system, which was supposed to apply to dignitaries, district council presidents, mayors, parliamentarians, was unconstitutional. In June, the UDR submitted two appeals on this matter to the Constitutional Court.

• The increase of salaries of high-ranking persons is unconstitutional – the decision of the Constitutional Court

A few hours after the decision of the KKR, senators at the plenary session voted for the draft law approving Ordinance 115/2022. As such, senators from the PSD-PNL-UDMR coalition amended the resolution that exempted dignitaries and local elected officials with an amendment that increases their allowances.

More precisely, at the suggestion of UDMR senators Turos Lorand and Fejer László-Odon through the law approving GEO 115/2022 ifrom November 1, 2022, the monthly financial support of persons holding public positions, elected and appointed, will increase. In particular, the gross amount of monetary support will be established by multiplying the coefficient provided for by the Uniform Wage Law by the minimum wage for the country for 2021.

• According to the introduced amendment, the member of parliament will benefit from an increase in gross salary by 2,000 lei.

In addition, due to the UDMR amendment, which was voted for by the PSD-PNL-UDMR majority in the Labor Commission, INor increases by 25% the salaries and allowances of specialized staff involved in the legislative process within the General Secretariat of the Government, the Parliament, the Legislative Council and the Presidential Administration.

It should be noted that the authors of the amendment did not indicate the source of funding for these salary increases.

At the plenary session, the UDR requested that the report be resubmitted to the commission within one week, stating that it risks being attacked again in the Central Committee and rejected by the judges. Their proposal was rejected at the plenary session by 54 votes against and 35 votes in favor.

• Ștefan Pălărie: “While Romanians are suffocating from poverty, politicians from the ruling parties are suffocating from privilege. Regarding the simple order that provided for an increase from the balance of the salaries of budget employees, the UDMR added to the labor committees some amendments without any impact on the budget, without the slightest justification, which increase the salaries of the President of Romania, the salaries of politicians of all parliamentarians, the salaries of public positions up to the last deputy mayor of the commune”

How senators argue their vote

PNL senator Virgil Guran said after the plenary session that “we must learn to be rich and honest.”

“In the 90s, I heard Ion Iliescu say to be poor and honest. I think we need to start learning to be rich and honest and the country will be better off. I will not benefit from a pay rise because God helped me and I have had my company for 32 years and I live there, not because of what happens in Parliament. I believe that we should put an end to the idea that mayors’ salaries should not be increased. I believe that we need to increase the performance requirements, and this is very important,” the PNL senator explained his vote.

• Marcel Bolosh, Minister of Investments and European Projects: “If I look at the salaries of high-ranking people in the European Union, I can be envious. If I look at what is happening at the population level in Romania and the problems we are facing, I believe that this is a period of moderation and the decisions taken by the government were in solidarity with the people. Many times I have been to meetings of the Council of Ministers and, coincidentally or not, discussions about what the salary means and how the fellow ministers do their jobs, their salaries exceed 15,000 euros, while the Romanian dignitary reaches 2,500 euros. So it says a lot about what the Romanian pay system means for seniors that we can criticize compared to what their foreign counterparts mean… Don’t think that our salary levels are outrageous compared to other seniors . I’m common sense.”

The Senate is the first chamber to be notified, the law that passes GEO 115/2022 must go to the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decision-making forum for the matter.

What did Cholaku say about raising the salaries of high-ranking officials

We will remind you that in June, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a draft law that provided for an increase in financial support for all high-ranking persons along with the salaries of state employees.

The USR told the Constitutional Court that the changes to the law would increase the allowances of all high-ranking officials, from super-prefects to the president, by between 880 and 1,410 lei, given that their salaries were frozen by the wage law.

At that time, PSD leader Marcel Čolaku assured that a new order would be issued to extend this deadline for raising the salaries of high-ranking officials.

“Of course, today in the coalition we will make a decision, if the law passes the Constitutional Court, the deadline for submitting applications for high-ranking persons will be extended,” the SDP president assured on June 8.