At a plenary sitting on Wednesday, the Senate passed 92 to 22 and four abstentions, a bill in which Romania’s dignitaries and local state officials will receive increased pay, according to Agerpres.

According to Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) senators Turos Lorand and Fejer-Laszlo Odon, the writers of an amendment submitted to the specialist committee and adopted at the sitting, the goal is to „eliminate existing inequities.”

„The specialist staff involved in the legislative process at the General Secretariat of the Government, the Parliament Services, the Legislative Service and the Presidential Administration will receive for the performance of this activity an increase in the base pay provided for in Art. 77( 4) of this law.”

The bill aims to grant, starting from August 2022, for newly hired staff, for staff appointed/employed in the same public institution/authority in the same positions, including for staff promoted in positions or professional degrees/levels and for staff who advance in the rank corresponding to the length of service between January and July 2022, of one fourth of the difference between the base pay provided for by Framework Law 153/2017, as subsequently amended and supplemented.

The amendment tabled by the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) was criticised by leaders of the Save Romania Union (USR) parliamentary group, who said that the PSD-PNL-UDMR „are now resorting to a trick: reintroducing the increase in allowances for dignitaries and local officials through the back door”.

In this case, the Senate is the first notified legislative chamber.

Agerpres