Employees of the Ministry of Investments and European Projects (MIPE) continue their protests on Tuesday against the austerity measures taken by the Government, which halve the income of specialists in the institution, Carmen Maican, president of the "MIPE Normalitate" Union, told AGERPRES.
She also stated that the protests will take place daily until the demands are resolved.
"I spoke with my colleagues and they are determined to protest every day, and on July 14-15, the days when the European Commission will come, we will hold protests organized by the union. Romania has a milestone in the PNRR for paying professionals on target, based on results. They simply throw their professionals in the trash. We are not hypocrites either, because we heard Mr. Bolojan's statements when he was accused of receiving large sums. We are not hypocrites either - we did our job, thoroughly and thoroughly. Our work is mentioned in audit reports. We have proof in abundance. If only someone would take notice of us. We will continue to fight. Who will do the absorption, the novices? I don't think so. We will protest every day," mentioned Carmen Maican.
At the same time, she emphasized that there is no budgetary impact on the law regarding austerity measures.
"Mr. Minister, I would even say in bad faith, does not do an analysis. We have no budgetary impact, we are supported by money from the Commission. We bring money to the budget, we do not take money from the budget, that is why I said with bad faith, because any law must have a calculation of the budgetary impact on each case. If you cut the salaries of professionals paid to targets, on whom you rely to save Romania, it is not right, it is not a budgetary calculation. (...) We are also paid on projects. If you do not absorb, Romania will lose," added the union leader.
The European Commission was notified on Monday that the recommendations the institution made regarding staff migration were being violated, Carmen Maican said.
"Yesterday I sent an open letter to the European Commission because the recommendations made regarding personnel migration are being violated. The European Commission systematically recommends maintaining competitive salaries in the system. That is why, since its establishment, the European Commission has been supporting our salaries and incentives because you can only absorb professionals. Our work is complex work. All of Europe would support us. We have results, we are in first place in absorption, in the Cohesion Fund, in second place in the PDD (Sustainable Development Program, n.d.) and our Government is simply throwing us in the trash. We will protest daily. What is valid for Mr. Bolojan, that he was not selfish and worked - is also valid for us and we can prove it, at any time, with audit reports, with our workload. We worked on Saturdays, we worked on Sundays, we sign contracts, addenda at 12 o'clock at night. We are trying to put our shoulder to the rescue of Romania and you throw us in the trash without an impact, without having a vision? In one sentence you tell us that we have high salaries and, in the second part of the sentence, you say that European money is the rescue of Romania? It is humiliating," the union leader also said.
She emphasized that these austerity measures are demotivating MIPE specialists.
"My colleagues, rightly so, the first thing they did, after these cuts and this slap in the face to their results - they sought the maximum in the procedure to prolong the projects as much as we could, to extend the deadlines and so on. This is what happens when you demotivate the staff. (...) We campaigned so that no one else would leave, so that the right people would leave, so that we could maintain our European path, and they simply threw us in the trash. It is unacceptable and people are very angry, rightly so. Instead of doing our job, working, bringing money into the country, we are protesting. But we will stay. Don't ignore us. Because if we are the first in results, I guarantee you that we will be the first in attitude. We will bring back a normal spirit, because that is why we call ourselves MIPE Normalitate," Carmen Maican also said.
At the same time, she emphasized that MIPE specialists are prohibited from working in the private sector for three years.
"We are not afraid of the private sector. The private sector is waiting for us, but we are prohibited from doing so. We cannot go to the private sector to work for 3 years. We are held accountable if we make a mistake. We are held accountable with our house, our car, everything. We want the same thing from the government. We did not bring the country to this stage. Who pays? Us. Just as we pay, in our personal name, each member of the Government should pay, in their personal name. You don't go and do whatever you want and then the people pay," the union leader emphasized.
The draft law on fiscal-budgetary measures, assumed in Parliament on Monday by the Bologna Government, provides, among other things, for the limitation, from up to 50% to up to 35%, of the salary increase granted to personnel from public institutions and/or authorities nominated in project teams financed from non-reimbursable European funds and/or reimbursable external funds, as well as to those involved in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.
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