Deputy PM Barna declared on Monday night that there is no plan of slashing wages or pensions and that Romania needs to fit within a budgetary deficit of 7%, assumed before the European Commission, according to AGERPRES.
"Currently, we need to be very honest, Romania comes after a period where the real economic recession did not end in many sectors, HoReCa and many other industry sectors being significantly affected by the economy not working due to reasons of COVID. From this point of view, the very clear message that the Prime Minister sent and that I am sending is that there will be no wage or pension slashes in the following year, and this is an important aspect, because we saw rumors in the public space that there will be pension and wage cuts. Not at all. There will be no slashes of wages or pensions. We are actually doing a bit over the necessary index, we are indeed freezing wage raises for MPs, dignitaries, in this area and it is a necessary measure in order to keep the balance and still being within the 7% deficit we promised the European Commission in the pandemic context. This measures are very responsible, but I repeat, there is no plan, neither in joke or subtext, of cutting pensions or wages," Barna declared for public broadcaster TVR 1.
Furthermore, Prime Minister Florin Citu announced on Monday that there will be no wage slashes of employees from the public sector next year, and that they will be held at the level of December 2020 until it the Wage Bill will have a definitive analysis.