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| PROTESTS AND POLITICS 08/10/2009 |
| (2009-10-08) |
| Last updated: 2009-10-09 14:24 EET |
Between 15,000 people according to the police, and 20,000 people, according to trade unions, gathered in front of the government building and called for the revision of the unified wage bill to come into effect next year, a bill passed without being debated by Parliament. Despite repeated assurances by the government that the bill will not lead to a decrease in salaries, most of Romania’s 1 million 400 thousand state employees believe their incomes will shrink in 2010 because the bill in question eliminates certain bonuses and provides for higher taxes.
State employees want the minimum wage to go up to 170 euros next year, from 145 euros today, and for the government to give up its plan to force people into ten days of unpaid leave by the end of 2009. Unless their demands are met, trade unions threaten to continue the protests and eventually organize a general strike. All this happens at a time when Romania is suffering a deep recession. Its economy may shrink by 8.5% this year according to the International Monetary Fund. Data provided by the National Statistics Office indicate that industrial output continued to drop in August as compared to the previous month.
The Liberal Democratic ministers, who are the single ruling party at present following the mass resignation of their Social Democratic partners last week, say that the situation is under control. This view is not shared by the other parties, and most politicians believe that the best option for Romania right now is a government of specialists. Together with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the Liberals have tabled a no-confidence motion to be voted on next week, which is also backed by the Social Democrats. This is not the only consequence of the fact that the Social Democrats are now in opposition. With the help of the Social Democrats, who hold one third of the seats in Parliament, Parliament’s standing committees decided that the no-confidence motion will be debated before a new bill proposed by the government on the sensitive issue of pensions.
The bill provides for the elimination of special pensions, including those of parliamentarians. The Liberal Democratic MPs refused to be in the room while the no-confidence motion, which they see as unconstitutional, was presented, and thus postponed the Parliamentary vote. According to the daily paper Gandul, the Liberal Democrats have a Plan B. Apparently, they are in serious talks with a part of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians to form a joint government in case the no-confidence motion causes the fall of the executive. The newspaper also writes that the Liberal Democrats are not at all worried about the fall of the government, since the president will again propose Emil Boc as a prime minister and the motion will provide them with ammunition in the presidential campaign, allowing them to protest against the irresponsible attitude of the people who want to maintain the outrageous pensions offered to parliamentarians.
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