Romania will miss the milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) regarding the wage law due to the lack of a political agreement on the draft, with responsibility falling on the parties that do not support it, Dragos Pîslaru, the interim Minister of Labor, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity, stated on Tuesday.
"Without an agreement, Romania will miss this milestone, and the direct responsibility lies with the parties that do not support this project (the draft of the new public sector wage law - Ed. note). At the moment, the parties are divided: two support it, while two have reservations or have not yet stated their final position. We will see the outcome of this matter today. I continue to hope that a sense of responsibility will prevail and that Romania's interests will take precedence," Pîslaru stated.
The interim Minister of Labor stated that the meeting scheduled for Tuesday at Cotroceni Palace is decisive for the fate of the project.
"The political agreement did indeed contain this provision: if not all parties supported the bill, it would not be tabled in Parliament. Decisions to date have been consistent with that agreement. So, at this momenteven though my personal preference would be for a vote to clearly show who supports the measure and who does notI can appreciate that there are honorable people and parties who respect agreements, unlike others who violate them," stated Dragos Pîslaru.
He maintained that the current version of the draft meets the requirements associated with the NRRP milestone and that it "can be aligned with the European Commission's latest requests."
"At this stage, the version currently before the partiesfollowing discussions with the European Commission that are not particularly complexmeets the milestone; therefore, there is no issue regarding compatibility with the NRRP milestone. We are discussing a project valued at under 12 billion lei, which can indeed be easily aligned with the Commission's latest requirements," the interim Minister of Labor stated.
Pîslaru also criticized the position of trade union confederations regarding the draft wage law, maintaining that their opposition to the adoption of the legislative act constitutes a "fundamental mistake."
"We have reached the eleventh hour. Trade union confederations are opposing a law that would bring pay increases of nearly 80% to the public sectoran opportunity they will not see againwhile also directly causing a loss of 770 million euros linked to the PNRR. I understand the unions' stance regarding social dialogue. However, protesting the adoption of this laweven during the early stages when there wasn't even a draft, and without any understanding of where the additional funds would come fromrepresents a fundamental mistake and a failure to properly represent the 1.2 million people working in public administration," he stated.
The minister added that he would be "very firm" on this matter and noted that the trade union protest is taking place on the same day as the decisive discussions regarding the wage law.
"I will be very firm on this subject. The fact that this protest coincides with the day we are discussing the wage lawwhile I wouldn't necessarily say it is directly linked, it certainly cannot be a coincidence, given that there is no element of urgency," Pîslaru added.
Several trade union federations staged a protest on Tuesday between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in front of the Ministry of Labour, demanding an increase in the minimum wage starting January 1, 2027, and the unblocking of collective bargaining at both sectoral and national levels.
