The bonuses paid to employees in both local and central public administration for harmful working conditions will be cut from 15% of the gross wage (but no more than RON 1,500 / EUR 300 per month) to a lump sum of RON 300 (EUR 60) per month under a draft emergency ordinance published by the Labour Ministry and likely to be endorsed by the Government on June 27. The ordinance would be enforced as of July.

The budgetary impact is estimated at RON 1.34 billion (EUR 265 million) for the six months of this year – resulting in an annualised impact of RON 2.7 billion (EUR 530 million). 

Romania’s Government seeks to achieve a budgetary impact of RON 35 billion (EUR 7 billion) during the period until the end of the year, with a package of measures to be outlined and ideally enacted by July 8 ECOFIN in order to avoid sanctions from the European Union.

Under the same bill, the Government also intends to reduce the duration of additional leave for those working in harmful or dangerous conditions from 3-10 days per year to 1-3 days.

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25 June 2025

Politics

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The social dialogue committee was reportedly convened for consultations (the committee’s opinion is not binding) on June 27 at 9:00 AM, five hours before the Government meeting where the bill could be endorsed.

This is the first of a long list of bonuses the Romanian Government plans to cut, cap, or eliminate with the purpose of reducing public spending. 

Last year, total bonuses (not limited to those for harmful working conditions) of RON 12.4 billion (EUR 2.5 billion or 0.66% of GDP) were granted, according to data provided by the Ministry of Finance on request to Hotnews.ro. Out of this, RON 7.86 billion was paid in the form of bonuses for harmful living conditions, and RON 4.56 billion was “other bonuses.” 

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Vlad Ispas/Dreamstime.com)