The trade unionists in the government “summon” Bolojan “not to force the reform of the administration at will”: “We will not sit idly by”

The Employees' Union of the Government's Work Apparatus (SAALG) publicly asked, on Thursday, the Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan to stop assuming responsibility for the draft law on public administration reform, but also the draft that limits postings and limits the accumulation of the pension with the salary for budget workers with service and military pensions. “If the Government insists on forcing the reform according to the Prime Minister's pleasure, we will use all legal and institutional instruments to stop this slippage”, the trade unionists warn.

The Employees' Union of the Government's Work Apparatus practically reacted to the statements made on Wednesday evening by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, who announced that the administration reform package has entered the approval circuit and would be adopted next week, by engaging the Government's responsibility, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Justice.

“In an institutional translation, the prime minister announced to us that he is going to massively change the regime of the civil service, labor relations in the public sector and the architecture of the administration. This change will be made through a procedure of the type “I go through Parliament without Parliament”, i.e. with minimal debate, with window consultation, turning the public administration into a training ground for experiments of personal authority”, accuse the trade unionists in the Government.

What possible problems do trade unionists see in the reform of the administration

Trade unionists criticize, on the one hand, the draft law that stops the secondments of civil servants and limits the cumulative pension-salary among budget workers with service pensions and military pensions.

“The project on measures applicable to civil servants and contractual staff paid from public funds (i) mixes temporary provisions with permanent solutions, (ii) suspends essential rules, (iii) introduces broad exceptions and (iv) creates discretionary powers without criteria and guarantees, under the guise of urgency. This lack of regulatory clarity directly hits the requirements of the quality of the law – clarity, predictability, coherence -, which derive from art. 1 para. (5) of the Constitution”, claims the Union.

In addition, the trade unionists say, “the mechanism of exceptions approved by government memorandum transfers to the Executive the ability to decide, at its discretion, who falls under the ban and who escapes, through an administrative and political instrument, without the regime of publicity, transparency and control of the law”.

The second criticized project is the one regarding the reform of the central and local public administration, which foresees a 10% decrease in personnel expenses and the possible abolition of 13,000 positions in the local administration.

“Furthermore, the draft law regarding the adoption of measures to increase the financial capacity of administrative-territorial units, as well as for the modification and completion of some normative acts (i) establishes a de facto restriction of rights related to work and the social protection of work, without calibrations and guarantees able to satisfy art. 41 and art. 53 of the Constitution, (ii) creates the premises of an unjustified differential treatment, with potential effects contrary to art. 16 of the Constitution, (iii) reduces the role of social dialogue to a formal consultation, in contradiction with Article 9 of the Constitution and (iv) introduces imprecise budgetary benchmarks, likely to affect the requirements of coherence and transparency of the budgetary process, with an impact on Article 138 of the Constitution, states the Government Employees' Union.

“If on top of these vulnerabilities the procedure of hiring responsibility is now placed, the result will be the acceleration of the vice: bypassing the real debate precisely when the stake is the highest. The administrative reform of Ilie-Gavril Bolojan is done through legislative improvisation and by ignoring the constitutional role of the Parliament, which he transforms, whenever he wants, into an annex of the Government”, the trade unionists also accuse.

Bolojan, accused of exercising his position in an authoritarian manner

The union asks the prime minister to “definitely abandon the idea of ​​governing as if he were alone in the state and approach a 'fairer' government, as the UDMR also demands, through President Kelemen Hunor.”

In addition, if even the governing partners say that they are not informed and not consulted, then the problem is no longer the opinion of the unions, but an authoritarian way of exercising the office of the prime minister.

The union has made public the following demands:

• 1. stopping the assumption of responsibility on a package that affects the rights and careers of public administration workers and the operation of public institutions;
• 2. the strict separation of temporary provisions from permanent ones and the elimination of exceptional side doors by memorandum;
• 3. clear rules, verifiable criteria, guarantees against arbitrariness and effective consultation;
• 4. to begin the reform by publicly clarifying and closing any intermediary mechanism and influence peddling invoked in the public space in relation to access to the prime minister.

“When public suspicions of influence peddling and intermediation are swirling around the name of the prime minister, we would have expected explanations and institutional hygiene measures. Instead, we are witnessing a forced acceleration of a reform, at a time when public opinion demands clarification. To be clear: we will not sit idly by. If the Government insists on forcing the reform at the pleasure of the prime minister, we will use all legal and institutional instruments to stop this slip, because, in a state of law, the Constitution is not a consultative document, it is not approved, it is not shortened and it is not circumvented by assumption, Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. Minister of Justice!”, said Noni-Emil Iordache, president of SAALG.

On which projects will the Bolojan Government engage its responsibility

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced on Wednesday evening that he will take responsibility for the package regarding the reform of the central and local public administration that will be adopted by the Government next week.

“Based on the consultation between the Ministry of Development and the Ministry of Justice, the recommendation of the Ministry of Justice is to engage the responsibility of the government for the adoption of this package. As you know, it has a very important role because it will reduce the state's expenditure base, in such a way that, in the coming years, we will have a more efficient state, but above all it will change the paradigm in the administration, creating conditions to have an administration at the service of the citizen and improving the quality of services for all citizens, through local administrations. This package will be completed by the project regarding the ban on the accumulation of the pension with the salary, and it would be adopted in the government meeting next week”, declared Bolojan.

It is not clear from the Prime Minister's statement whether the Government will also assume its responsibility on the draft law on limiting the accumulation of the pension with the salary of budget workers with special pensions. At the end of last month, Ioana Dogioiu, the spokeswoman of the Government, only stated that this project will be promoted as an emergency in the Parliament.

The second bill that the Bolojan Government wants to commit to is the economic recovery package.

“Tomorrow, this package will be presented in a first reading in the government meeting, and after the meeting it will be presented to you by Minister Nazare, in such a way that you will have all the elements of this package, which will be put into decision-making transparency. And on Friday, a tripartite council will take place in which it will be presented to the social partners,” Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Wednesday evening.

This package contains tax credit solutions for companies, accelerated depreciation measures for the purchase of machinery, for example, support schemes for large investments, for areas where we have trade deficits, for areas where we can boost our exports, and guarantee schemes, for example, through the Investment and Development Bank, Bolojan also said.