Romanian MPs vote new public sector wage draft bill

The new public sector wage draft bill was voted in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, which means that the piece of legislation will reach president Klaus Iohannis so as to be signed into law.

There were 188 votes “for” the draft bill, 28 “against” and 47 abstentions. According to the latest version of the draft bill, all the wages in the public sector will be hiked by 25 percent starting January 2018, with additional gains in pay for teachers and doctors throughout the year. The new law will have an impact of more than 8 percent of Romania’s GDP next year, said the minister of finance, Viorel Stefan.

The draft bill might be challenged at the Constitutional Court by opposition party USR. If the constitutional judges are not asked to make a ruling, the draft bill will go directly to president Klaus Iohannis who has to sign it into law.

Although the minister of labor, Lia Olguta Vasilescu, suggested in late spring that the draft bill could be challenged by president Iohannis, the head of state said in late May that the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has full responsibility for this law.

“The expectation for me to change something to this law seems a little bit inappropriate,” said the president.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, stated recently that the new public sector wage bill poses a high risk for the country’s budget deficit.