Pîslaru: the amounts in the pay law are "the maximum Romania can afford" right now

The interim Minister of Labour, Dragoș Pîslaru, spoke on Digi24 about the risk of Romania being downgraded to "junk" rating if the new unified pay law is not adopted. He warned that, without this legislation, populist decisions with no budgetary backing could be taken in the 2028 electoral year. Pîslaru also delivered a clear message to workers in education and healthcare: the amounts set out in the current draft law represent "the maximum Romania can afford at this time".

According to the minister, two political parties would be willing to support the pay legislation. Pîslaru explained that what is at stake is not merely the NRRP milestone worth 770 million euros, but also the way in which the ratings agency Moody's recently assessed Romania's economy, explicitly citing the adoption of the unified pay law as a condition for a potential upgrade.

When asked directly which risk was greater — losing the 770 million euros from the NRRP or adopting a law that exceeds Romania's budgetary capacity — the minister said he had sought, throughout this entire period, to balance expectations in education, healthcare, and public administration, expectations which, he argued, had been politically fuelled between 2022 and 2024.

Pîslaru noted that the pay law should have been adopted four years ago, but had been repeatedly postponed: initially for administrative reasons, then due to the electoral period, and subsequently — including under the Bolojan government — out of a reluctance to strain preferential relationships with trade unions, particularly on the part of parties with close ties to the education and healthcare sectors, such as PSD.

The minister warned that a return to populist promises with no budgetary backing would undermine Romania's commitment to bringing the deficit back to 3% and maintaining fiscal discipline. He stressed that such a deviation, involving an overrun of more than 12 billion RON, would be "worse than any kind of penalty" and could trigger a downgrade of the country's credit rating.

According to Pîslaru, the Ministry of Finance only managed to convince Moody's on 7 August, and since then the European Commission has revised its view of the law's importance.

The budgetary impact of the pay law was initially estimated at 8 billion RON, a figure that could rise to 12 billion RON should certain expenditure cuts be pursued. The minister noted, however, that at a technical level, discussions point to a figure closer to 8 billion RON, which is also the European Commission's recommendation. He added that he had explored, together with the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance, ways of phasing and staggering the budget increases.