Prime Minister Bolojan announces where the budget cuts will come from. “If we have people being pushed around by others, these positions are not worth funding”
Ilie Bolojan stated, in a press conference at the Victoria Palace, that the 10% reduction in personnel expenses does not represent a 10% reduction in the revenues of all budgets, the prime minister detailing how the cuts can be made. He said that there is also the possibility of reducing the surplus staff of some institutions, aimed at employees who do not perform, “who are carried behind by others”.
“The analysis of the administration shows that everywhere, I emphasize, everywhere, there is room for improvement, and no institution should avoid evaluating its activity and how it can reduce its expenses. This is valid both in local administrations and in the central administration. This means that, where it is proven that we have extra staff, where it is proven that we have people who do not perform, who are taken behind by others and who demotivate their colleagues in the public sector, these positions no longer deserve to be financed from the state budgets. They must be abolished. This is the truth,” announced the prime minister.
The 10% reduction will not affect all salaries, assures the prime minister
Ilie Bolojan said that the reductions in personnel expenses are necessary so that the Government has the guarantee that, at the end of next year, the objectives financed in the draft budget will be reached.
“It's the only way to reduce our interest rates. They have already been reduced by a few points, but we can reduce them even more, given the low level of indebtedness, but creditors must perceive us as serious people, that we take care of money, that we don't waste it,” continued Bolojan.
He said that the reductions will not be made in the same way everywhere, giving the example of town halls where the optimization of expenses will be made according to how busy the staffing scheme is
“The topic has turned into the perception that all salaries will be reduced by 10%, which has nothing to do with reality. If in a town hall the number of employees is exceeded, the positions can be defined or the town halls can check the increments or the salary scale”, said Bolojan.
The Prime Minister then gave a number of examples of where savings could be made, starting with the Government's car spend, where it was reduced to just 10% by halving the fleet and taking out a new lease.
Then he pointed to the granting of the increase in European funds granted to state officials, which the prime minister said should only be given to those who have results.
“Regarding increments on European funds, access has not become a goal, but the award has become a goal in itself. The increments have doubled salaries in recent years, you cannot have increments if you do not perform. The fact that the increments have been reduced there is a fair thing, that only those who perform should receive increments at the maximum level”, appreciated the head of the Government.
“Hospitals that are for employees, not patients”
Another example given is the Payments and Interventions in Agriculture Agency (APIA) which concluded agreements with the agricultural, phyto-sanitary departments or the State Domains Agency for the distribution of European subsidies on cultivated areas, which made the employees of these institutions take the maximum increase in European funds, even though they do not work with these funds every day.
“In the health area, we have many hospitals where more than 90% of the budget is dedicated to salaries. What is left for medicines, to combat nosocomial infections, equipment, tests and other things related to the quality of medical services. We have taken all the increases to the maximum level, we find that we have taken the staffing rate to the minimum level in order to have as many employees as possible and, worse, we have no services. But we have staff expenses, we must intervene here because this type of hospital is not for patients, but for employees”, continued Ilie Bolojan.
He claims that spending cuts can also be made in institutions where there is a shortage of staff, such as the Ministry of the Interior.
“You have the option of hiring people or redistributing people, so that you have more efficient spending. This must be done the first time, and if you need more people, hiring will be done,” said Bolojan.
Thus, some of the gendarmes who ensure the continuous security of public institutions, such as the courts of accounts, should do so only during the operation of these institutions, the rest of the time the security being provided only with cameras, connected to a dispatcher.
Finally, Bolojan also indicated the Parliament as a place where savings can be made. “I don't think anything happens if the lump-sum amount from the parliamentarians is reduced by 10%,” the prime minister also said.
