Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on Wednesday evening told the national television broadcaster TVR that reforms must continue and that 'whoever comes next will face certain constraints they cannot avoid.'
'For a period of time, things were voted through and supported in Parliament based on a kind of messaging: we are in government' - this is what PSD (Social Democratic Party) said - but in reality, we are the opposition within the government and we are trying to avoid any cost of governing.' Because every period in government comes with a bill to pay. That worked for a while. How long did it work? Until, of course, we moved to the next stages, where we had to take measures to reduce public spending, and this must continue in the period ahead, regardless of who is in charge,' Bolojan said.
The Prime Minister added that now, ten months after the deficit-correction measures, it can be seen that public budget revenues have increased by around 12%, while expenditure has fallen by 3%.
'Out of a sense of fairness alone, it would be normal for the state - the public administration - to contribute to the same extent as citizens. That is one point. Secondly, if we want to increase salaries in the public sector, we have a fixed budget. If we do not reduce the base - meaning if an institution is overstaffed and we do not reduce that workforce - then you simply cannot raise the salaries of those who remain. You will end up with more people being poorly paid, or some being paid well for a time, but the situation will not be sustainable. So, from this point of view, whoever comes next will face certain constraints they cannot avoid,' Bolojan explained.
He stressed that reforms must be carried out.
'We have to implement certain reforms, some of which are unpopular, because we committed to them four or five years ago when we signed up to access European funds. Those milestones discussed in the public space - each reform, each milestone achieved - means several hundred million euros that we can gain or lose if we fail to meet them. These steps must continue in the period ahead, and for that you need people who take responsibility, not those who abandon ship at the first sign of political cost,' Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan added.
