Romanian minister criticizes public release of EU salary law correspondence

Dragoș Pîslaru, Romania's interim Minister of Labor, has publicly criticized the dissemination of technical correspondence between Romanian authorities and the European Commission concerning the national salary law. Pîslaru described Romania as an "atypical" country where such exchanges, intended for technical discussion, become public knowledge. He stressed that these communications represent the opinions of European Commission project officers and do not constitute binding obligations for Romania.

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Romania is a peculiar country. Here, technical correspondence with the European Commission ends up in the public domain. Technical correspondence is simply a reflection of project officers at the European Commission who tell us: 'This is what we think!'

"When I heard headlines like 'The European Commission is imposing on us, obliging us, etc.,' Nothing could be further from the truth," Pîslaru stated, clarifying that these are not imposed measures. He asserted that the European Commission does not possess prerogatives over Romania's fiscal policy or other domestic matters. Pîslaru aimed to assure the public that the EU does not dictate Romania's internal decisions through such correspondence.

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When I heard headlines like 'The European Commission is imposing on us, obliging us, etc.' Nothing could be further from the truth; it is technical correspondence. We tested several versions, hypotheses, and scenarios, and this is the response to one of the latest scenarios we tested, where they said it would be better to aim for 10 billion rather than 12, that it would be better to look at other sources. But these are not things that are imposed; the European Commission has no prerogatives of fiscal policy or any other nature.

Pîslaru also addressed the financial implications of potential salary increases. He explained that if Romania intends to raise the budget for public sector salaries from an estimated 8 billion lei to 12 billion lei, it must identify the necessary funding sources. While the documents are not classified, Pîslaru expressed dismay over the breach of professional ethics and minimal administrative standards, particularly concerning the leak of information, without directly accusing journalists.

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Things are happening that violate the professionalism and minimal ethics one should have in administration. I'm not talking about journalists, I'm talking about those who leak this information.