The Minister of European Investments and Projects, Marcel Bolosh, states that the possible reductions in staff costs of the ministry headed by him will only bring “absolutely insignificant” savings to the state budget, and instead “compromise” the tens of billions of euros that Romania should receive from European funds, News.ro reports.

“I don’t think that the Ministry of Investments and European Projects can generate cost savings so that we have an impact of 20 billion lei, on the one hand. On the other hand, this is a ministry that, if the structures for the development of European money do not work according to the standards that we have from the European Commission (…) I do not think that anyone will want to compromise with 80 billion euros for savings that is absolutely insignificant and which would jeopardize the proper functioning of the organizational structures required of us by the European Commission,” said Marcel Bolosh on Thursday evening at TVR Info, News.ro reports.

He explained that the ministry transferred specialists from other institutions and has “strictness about the structures” of its work, because European money is not received if the structures that work to access it do not work.

Bolos says that “dysfunctional structures mean the suspension of money and the compromising of the investments that Romania has.”

What does the Minister of European Funds say about the reduction of allowances for state employees

“The state’s operating costs are where we can save, (…) but it’s not a very good signal, from this point of view, because, as a rule, it should be, with the amounts that are invested in the economy and with the increase GDP, we must also have a corresponding increase in revenue, which is something that needs to be well analyzed and measured in terms of the government’s decision,” adds Bolosh.

Regarding the reduction of some allowances, the Minister of European Projects shows that the milestone that Romania must meet in the second quarter of this year provides that the allowances that state employees will receive will not be able to exceed 20%.

Currently, employees of the Ministry of European Projects are getting a 50% raise.

What is the salary of the Minister of European Funds?

He noted that currently the minister has a lower income than the director of the ministry and the latter receives allowances that make his income higher than that of the minister.

“I have 12,167 lei net, and there are executive positions with higher salaries than the minister, but everyone who works with these European funds is all in a situation where they have a 50% increase in funds. (…) The general manager can reach 3,000 euros,” says Bolosh.

He added that part of the salary of MIPE employees is provided by the European Commission and not by the Romanian state.

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