The Chamber of Deputies approved on Tuesday an increase in the salaries of local elected officials and civil servants in city halls. USR and AUR demanded the full repeal of the amendment that provided for a salary increase, but PSD, PNL and UDMR kept the provisions on local government.

Deputies adopted the draft law with 168 votes “for”, 79 “against” and 4 “abstentions”. The bill is being promulgated, and the Chamber of Deputies in this case is the forum for decision-making.

The draft law regulates oug 115/2022, according to which, starting from August 2022, a quarter of the difference between the basic salary provided for by the framework law No. 153/2017 for 2022 and for December 2021 is provided.

The amendment introduced by the People’s Deputies provides for the promotion of persons holding public positions elected from local self-government bodies as of November 1, 2022.

• “As an exception, starting from November 1, 2022, the gross amount of monthly staff allowances paid from state funds, provided for in Appendix No. IX letter C to Framework Law No. 153/2017 (…) is established by multiplying the coefficient provided for by Ramkov by law No. 153/2017 (…), with the minimum gross salary in the country, guaranteed in the payment, established in accordance with the law for 2021,” the adopted text says.

The UDR announced that it will re-appeal in the Constitutional Court the extraordinary resolution, which provides for an increase in the salaries of mayors. USR MP Christian Seidler said on Tuesday that although the decree had been amended by the Labor Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, it was still unconstitutional.

• Oana Ţoiu, USR: “The coalition refuses the vote of the Romanians. You put dignitaries first. In Romania, where one in three workers earns less than the minimum wage, there is a 1,700 lei raise for those in the highest position. (…) Salaries can be increased even without this amendment. What do you grow? These are the salaries of high-ranking persons, those who already have high salaries. This is a coalition of injustice.”
• Florin Roman, PNL: “None of those who are here have never been elected by the same name, but were elected according to the lists of some formations. Someone today is trying to say that what was directly elected by the people is not representative. I think this is a very big mistake. The way they attacked the church, the way they attacked the army, the way they attacked the local state administration, the people directly elected by the citizens, is a very big mistake. Stop the attack on important and democratic institutions of the Romanian state
• Alfred Simonis, PSD: “What happened in the Senate was a mistake. There have been mistakes before – for example, when the UDR voted for special pensions at the Competition Council. The AUR voted in the Senate to raise the salaries of parliamentarians and said it was a mistake. If we accept your mistakes, accept ours too.”
• Choma Botond, UDMR: “There can be no difference between the central public administration and the local public administration. We should not subject mayors, vice-mayors, vice-presidents and chairmen of district councils to anathema and throw mud. We should not have a combative approach and turn people against local administrations, because we do not solve anything.”

The circus and scandal committed by AUR and PSD at the committee debates

The debate on the draft law caused a scandal and a circus in the Chamber of Deputies. Profile commissions gathered for a joint meeting to make changes to the draft law that increased the salaries of all civil servants.

NLP MP Raluka Tsurkan said during the debate that “some unacceptable changes were made” in the Senate and gave the impression that the lawmaker was overstretching his hands. “And unfortunately, some of the speeches or political approaches have entered the public space. I think we need to discuss a little more seriously what is happening to the salaries of some people, whether they are from the budget or from the private sector, in a complex economic context “, she added.

USR MP Claudio Nesui asked to cancel the amendment regulating salary increases. “If we increase only mayors, only parliamentarians, we will not become better. If you want to face rising prices, bills and so on, we have to take measures that will raise all salaries in Romania. I want to cancel both salary increases, both for parliamentarians and for mayors. If there are solutions, they should be implemented for everyone,” said the UDR deputy.

In response, the head of the Labor Commission, PSD MP Adrian Solomon, claims that Order 115 was in effect until December 31. “This order is valid until December 31, and then goodbye. (…) But you all like to make a stallion out of a mosquito. No one raised salaries, here the legislative chamber is the chamber of deputies.” Thus, Decree 115 concerns salary increases for everyone in the budget system who (…) did not reach the maximum salary. The PNL-USR government did not do them on time, if they did it on time, there would be no problems,” said PSD deputy.

In an image game, AUR deputies led by George Simion came to the committee debate and caused a scandal by trying to challenge PSD and PNL deputies. Simion broadcast the entire intervention on his Facebook page.

• VIDEO Scandal and provocations as in the stadium in Rada. George Simion and PSD member Gabriel Zetea shouted at each other. Dan Tănasă intervened, being on the verge of a fight

After an hour of heated discussions, specialized commissions made changes to the Senate bill in such a way that the salary increase will apply only to local state administration, respectively mayors, vice-mayors, presidents and vice-presidents of district councils.

Last week, the Senate passed, on the proposal of UDRM and the vote of PSD, PNL and AUR, an increase in allowances for high-ranking officials and a 25% increase in allowances for civil servants participating in the legislative process. The amendment concerned the allowances of the president, ministers, deputies, mayors, heads of district and local councils, as well as civil servants who serve them.

• Green wave for higher allowances for high-ranking officials / Senators voted to increase salaries, although the Central Committee rejected two bills with the same goal

The senators gave the green light to the increase on the very day when the Constitutional Court, upon appeal to the UDR, declared unconstitutional two draft laws that had the same goal, namely increasing the salaries of high-ranking officials.