Dignitary salaries in Romania set by parties signatory to political accord

Romania's interim Labor Minister, Dragoș Pîslaru, announced that the salary scale for dignitaries, a component of the new wage law, was determined by the leaders of parliamentary groups from parties that signed a political agreement. Pîslaru stated he received the agreed-upon scale via email from the Chamber of Deputies, indicating it was a proposal from the four signatory parties.

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I received an email from the Chamber of Deputies informing me that the leaders of the political groups signatory to the agreement had agreed on the scale for dignitaries. Therefore, the scale for dignitaries is the proposal of the four parties.

He further explained that this scale was subsequently reviewed by World Bank experts. While some aspects were deemed suitable for classification from one to eight, other areas presented inequities that could not be technically accepted. The interim government, led by Ilie Bolojan, ultimately accepted the scale proposed by the political parties. Pîslaru cited the government's current interim status and limited capacity to formulate its own proposals as reasons for this decision.

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They sent me a scale for dignitaries that was analyzed with World Bank experts. A certain area was considered for opportunity for classification from one to eight, another area had certain inequities and we could not accept them technically.

Pîslaru also addressed discrepancies in budget impact, clarifying that the version of the wage law project he inherited had a significantly higher budget impact than the politically agreed-upon version. He stated the initial project had a budget impact of 15.5 billion lei, while the politically agreed version was 8 billion lei. He refuted claims suggesting the larger figure was preferable, calling such comparisons "calumnious" and "completely false."

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The Bolojan government has a technical secretariat in which it prepares a project for the leaders of the political groups.