Bolojan threatened to resign if coalition leaders do not approve his local administration reform

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan threatened to resign from office on Sunday evening during the governing coalition meeting of PSD-PNL-USR-UDMR, political sources declared to G4Media. Bolojan conditioned his remaining in office on the adoption of a reform in local administration that would lead to the dismissal of a minimum of 17,000 civil servants from what he considers an overly bloated apparatus. In response, PSD, UDMR and minorities requested a more detailed analysis of the measures.

Where did the problems start from? From the method of calculating the dismissals. Initially, last Tuesday, the coalition – including Ilie Bolojan – had agreed on a calculation method proposed by the Development Minister, Cseke Attila. On Thursday, Bolojan requested a new method, invoking the fact that the initial one was only a mimicry of the reform. On Friday, PSD ministers led by Deputy Prime Minister Marian Neacșu refused to accept Bolojan’s proposal and threatened to leave the government meeting. On Sunday, the coalition meeting brought a total deadlock, against which backdrop the prime minister announced that he would resign if coalition leaders do not support him, multiple sources from the coalition declared to G4Media.

The Development Minister’s initial proposal was to cut 25% from the maximum number of positions established according to legislation for city halls and county councils, which is about 180,000 positions at the level of the entire country. But Bolojan presented on Friday and Sunday to the coalition new figures showing that the real number of positions is about 158,000 positions, which meant, according to him, that the 25% reduction applied to the maximum number of positions led to a small number of dismissals, that is, a mimicry of the reform. In response, Bolojan initially requested a 45% reduction from the maximum number of positions, reducing the percentage to 40% during negotiations.
„The cut that PSD wants is just a mimicry of the reform, nobody would go home. Bolojan wants real cutting of occupied positions. He doesn’t want all the costs of austerity to be borne exclusively by the private sector, while civil servants have no contribution,” a coalition source declared to G4Media.

Police issued protection order in the name of Marian Vanghelie – sources

Foreign citizen in coma after being beaten and robbed in Cluj

„What Ilie Bolojan wants is exaggerated. We cannot cut indiscriminately, there is a need for a lucid analysis of how the dismissals are made. PSD and UDMR have not refused his proposal, but we requested time, otherwise we risk destroying entire departments from city halls and county councils,” another coalition leader declared to G4Media.

What follows?

Bolojan requested a rapid meeting of the governing coalition, possibly for Tuesday, asking for total support for his proposal. „The prime minister said that on Monday we go to Parliament with the assumption of responsibility for the 5 laws agreed by the coalition, then from Tuesday the coalition should think about who takes my place. He said he cannot continue like this, because there is a need for a structural solution to the overloading of the civil servants scheme, otherwise the entire burden of austerity weighs on the private sector,” another coalition source said.

Coalition leaders declared to G4Media that the prime minister was also irritated on Sunday by the statements made by President Nicușor Dan in Chișinău. The head of state criticized there the measures taken in haste and took the side of magistrates, requesting an attenuation of the special pensions reform on the grounds that Romanian magistrates work much more than European ones.

„If he doesn’t understand that there is a need for an in-depth analysis, then let him leave, he’s not the only one who can lead the government,” another coalition source declared to G4Media. „I give about 80% chances of the prime minister’s departure if PSD and UDMR do not agree to his proposals through which a minimum of 17,000 people should leave the administration,” another leader of the governing coalition said to G4Media.

Statement by Romanian President Nicușor Dan

Nicușor Dan declared on Sunday in Chișinău that he had requested coalition leaders that the retirement age for magistrates increase gradually over the next 15 years, not in 10 years as provided in the project adopted by the Government.

The head of state considers that magistrates in Romania have worked two, three times more than those in other European countries.

PNL, through the voice of first vice-president Ciprian Ciucu, confirmed on Monday the tensions in the coalition and presented a set of figures that show, in the liberals’ opinion, the difference between the real reform proposed by Ilie Bolojan and the reform supported by PSD, UDMR and local minorities. „I requested 15 years instead of 10 years, because unlike many other categories that have service pensions, called special, magistrates in Romania have indeed worked much more than their counterparts in European countries,” Nicușor Dan said.