Radio România Internațional

Tag: state institutions

  • Restructuring in state institutions

    Restructuring in state institutions

    The biggest cut in operating expenses in the history of the Government is starting, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced in Bucharest. In the government meeting he showed that several public institutions will be merged or abolished, with the personnel scheme being reduced, including the posts of state secretaries. Approximately 1,800 positions of civil servants and contractual employees from 32 institutions under the subordination and coordination of the Executive will be abolished, stated Prime Minister Ciolacu, explaining that this signal had been expected both by the public opinion and especially by the business environment.

     

    Marcel Ciolacu: “We are abolishing and merging authorities and institutions. We are reducing the number of employees and cutting official positions. In total, we are talking about a massive cut in posts of 13.5%.”

     

    Regarding those institutions that have an organizational chart approved by the Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT), the head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, Radu Oprea, explained that government decisions will follow for the approval of the organizational charts, for their organization and functioning. Regarding the vacant positions, he added, they intend to release those who are subject to the decision of the High Court of Cassation and Justice by which the cumulation of the pension with the salary is prohibited. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu’s announcement to reduce the number of posts in government institutions comes after he asked the ministers, in the January 10 government meeting, to come up with proposals to restructure positions in the administration and in the state companies. The staff reduction proposals, which Prime Minister Ciolacu declared to be a priority, are part of the 2025 budget calculations.

     

    Similar measures were taken by Parliament. The Chamber of Deputies voted, at the beginning of February, to reduce the number of posts by 240, and the Senate decided to abolish 178. According to experts, however, it is not clear what the impact of the restructuring will be on public spending. The number of positions occupied in public institutions and authorities in Romania was, in January, 1.3 million. In 2020, 1.25 million people were employed by the State, in 2021 – 1.26 million, in 2022 – 1.28 million, and in 2023 – 1.29 million. For a good part of these years, employment in the state institutions was blocked, employment being made only through derogations issued by the ministers and the prime minister. Let’s also remember that, at the end of last year, the Government headed by Marcel Ciolacu adopted an ordinance by which the salaries of state employees and public pensions were frozen. Also, with a view to making budget savings, the tax facilities in the IT, construction and agriculture fields were also eliminated, the taxation ceiling for micro-enterprises was reduced by half and the tax on dividends was increased to 10%. (LS)

  • May 14, 2023 UPDATE

    May 14, 2023 UPDATE

    Commemoration — The wounds caused by communism will never be fully healed, and our duty is to cultivate, every day, the respect for democratic values, as well as for the historical truth, and to educate the younger generations in this sense. This message was conveyed on Sunday by the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă on the occasion of the National Remembrance Day of Martyrs of Communist Prisons. “75 years ago, on the night of May 14/15, 1948, the communist authorities launched a vast repressive operation, marking the beginning of a long series of horrors. For almost half a century, Romania was in the darkness of totalitarianism, all the strongholds of democracy being destroyed, one by one” the prime minister said in his message. According to him, all this ordeal ended in December 1989, through blood sacrifice, when Romanians won the fight for freedom and democracy.



    Jobs – The number of jobs held in public institutions and authorities in Romania was, in March 2023, 1,277,054, 470 more compared to the previous month, 63.88% of which were in the central public administration, according to data published on the Finance Ministrys website. Out of the total of 815,788 employees in the central public administration, 600,805 worked in institutions fully financed from the state budget (plus 76 employees compared to February 2023). The largest number of occupied positions was recorded in the Education Ministry, respectively 295,367, the Interior Ministry – 125,184, the Defense Ministry – 71,989, the Finance Ministry – 24,695 and the Health Ministry – 18,202. In March, 461,266 people worked in the local public administration (plus 136), of whom 281,482 in institutions fully financed from local budgets (plus 434) and 179,784 in institutions fully or partially financed from own revenues (minus 166). The coalition government adopted, on Friday, the Emergency Ordinance on the reduction of public expenses, which, among other measures, stipulates, this year, the suspension of contests or exams for filling vacant or temporarily vacant positions, with the exception of unique jobs.



    Mission – A maritime vessel and two port surveillance and control sloops of the Romanian Coast Guard will participate, for two months, in the Mediterranean Sea, in an international Frontex mission to save human lives in danger. According to a Border Police General Inspectorate’s press release, submitted to the media on Sunday, they will carry out individual patrol, surveillance, search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea, at the external maritime border of the European Union. The main objective of the joint operation, called THEMIS, is to support the Italian authorities in the surveillance and control of the Union’s maritime borders, as well as in the search and rescue of persons in distress at sea.



    Football – The national football team of Belarus will play in Hungary, behind closed doors, the June matches against Israel and Kosovo, from Group I of the EURO 2024 preliminaries, a group which also includes Romania – the Hungarian football federation announced, after UEFA ordered Belarus to play on neutral ground. Unlike Russia, excluded from UEFA competitions after the invasion of Ukraine, its ally Belarus was not suspended by the European football forum. Belarus started the EURO 2024 preliminaries with two defeats, against Switzerland (0-5, a match that took place in Serbia) and against Romania (1-2 in Bucharest). Winner of the match in Andora too, score 2-0, Romania is ranked 2nd in the group, after Switzerland, which has a better goal difference. The two top-ranking teams in each group qualify for the final tournament in Germany. Romania has participated in five editions of the European Championship, with the best performance being the quarter-final at EURO 2000.



    Berlin – The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Sunday in Berlin that Ukraine and its Western supporters could make Russias defeat in the war in Ukraine “irreversible” as early as this year. He was received by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during his first visit to Germany since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Berlin for its help and solidarity following Germanys announcement that it will supply Kiev with weaponry worth nearly three billion dollars. In turn, Olaf Scholz said that the new package is a strong indication of support for the fight against the Russian invasion, support that will continue as long as necessary. The Defense Ministry in Berlin specified that the aid will include anti-aircraft defense systems, battle tanks, infantry vehicles, artillery ammunition and hundreds of reconnaissance aerial vehicles. This is the largest package of weapons provided by Germany to strengthen the Ukrainian armed forces, since the start of the war by Russia. (LS)