Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan reportedly threatened to resign of coalition leaders did not back reforms to cut thousands of jobs in local administration, part of a package of plans to redce public spending to shrink Romania’s budget deficit.
Ilie Bolojan told a meeting pf the four governing parties, who are united in their commitment to Romania’s European path, that he would quit unless they backed his plan to make 17,000 civil servants redundant, G4Media reported. He said local administration was bloated and the jobs needed to be cut to get public spending under control.
The Social Democratic Party, Romania’s largest party, and the ethnic Hungarian party have asked for a more detailed analysis of the measures. The two parties rely on support from rural areas, where many of the jobs cuts are planned.
There was no immediate word on what position the center-right Liberals and centrist Save Romania Union hold but they are believed to generally back the cuts.
The reported deadlock over the cuts came Sunday leading to the prime minister threatening to resign if coalition leaders did not support him, G4Media reported, citing “multiple sources”.
One source said that the Social Democrats were “mimicking reform,” adding Bolojan “wants a real (job) cuts. He does not want all the costs of austerity to be borne exclusively by the private sector.”
Another source was quoted as saying: “We need a clear nalysis of the way in which layoffs are made. (The Social Democrats and ethnic Hungarians) did not refuse his proposal, but we asked for time.”
Bolojan has called for a meeting of the ruling coalition later this week, as early as Tuesday to get support for his proposal.
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