Tensions over reform of local public administration
The Romanian government has taken responsibility for 5 of the 6 projects that make up the second package of budget recovery measures. The 6th one, regarding the local public administration reform, is still problematic.
Sorin Iordan, 03.09.2025, 14:00
The full adoption of the second package of measures to reduce the budget deficit is giving headaches to the Bucharest government. Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan has taken responsibility in the Parliament’s plenary for five of the six projects that make up this package. These are the projects that target magistrates’ pensions, the reform of the healthcare system, the reorganization of public companies, the restructuring of regulatory authorities and the introduction of fiscal measures to combat tax evasion and increase revenues. The ruling coalition made up of PSD, PNL, USR, UDMR and national minorities, have not reached an agreement, however, on the sixth project, the one concerning the reform of local public administration. The leaders of the ruling parties also met with the president of the country, Nicuşor Dan, in the context in which Bolojan warned that he would resign if this reform was not completed.
According to the PM, a 25% reduction in public administration positions would not be efficient, as it would only affect fictitious or vacant positions. He explained that a real staff reduction in administration should target the positions actually occupied, not those theoretically available in the organizational charts of the city halls. The objective is a decrease by approximately 10% in the number of occupied positions, said Bolojan after talks with the president of Romania. Ilie Bolojan: “By mid-September, a working group that will be formed within the Government will analyze all the solutions in such a way that we can finalize this package, with the goal of cutting 10% of the positions actually occupied, that is, the staff. At the same, of course, we should also work to reduce positions in the central administration, where there is room for reduction. Analyzing several institutions, we found out that the personnel is oversized and I am convinced that things can work, with significant savings, also in the central administration or in the decentralized state services in each county.”
According to simulations, an effective staff reduction by 10% would involve a decrease by about 40% in the total number of positions. If such a measure were adopted, 13,000 employees in the public administration would be laid off at national level. The unions in the central and local administration disagree with these measures, and have threatened a general strike if the government does not abandon this initiative. The unionists believe that the Government is preparing the largest wave of layoffs in the last 30 years, without real analysis and without consulting the union organizations, measures that will directly affect the stability of jobs, salary rights and the functioning of public institutions. The unionists in the administration were joined by those in education, who announced that the beginning of the new school year, scheduled for September 8, will be marked by protests. The teachers are dissatisfied, among other things, with the increase in working hours, the decrease in the pay for overtime and the merging of schools. (EE)
