High Ranking Officials Have Salaries On Freeze For 2009

Prime minister Emil Boc today said at the end of the Government meeting that he decided a freeze on salaries of high-ranking public officials for 2009.

"No high-ranking official will get a salary hike this year," Boc said. He added that the Government chose to not let go 5% of the public servants, as previously announced, and to identify economic sources for salary hikes in line with stimuli for economic growth.

"No sacking does not mean there will be no moves in the bureaucratic structures. On the contrary, new organizational charts will aim at saving the public funds," Bod said.

He also said he sent to Parliament a draft law for doing away with the
practice of having people receive both salaries and pensions from public sources. However, he added the draft law did not target people with pensions under 1,700 lei, which covered the professions of actors, university professors or care givers to disabled people.

As for the extra pay civil servants got, Boc said the new draft law was targeting those which did not abide by the law and were abusing the budgetary funds.