With the vote of all political parties except for reformist USR (and some four independent MPs), Romania's Senate approved on September 21 a bill with the effect of bringing public servants' wages closer to the ambitious wage calendar for the budgetary sector - a calendar that was frozen shortly after being endorsed.

The timing of the move and striking statements prompted public criticism.

Liberal (PNL) senator Virgil Guran, once a supporter of the financial sustainability principles, argued that "we have to learn to be rich and honest" - hinting at a famous statement of former President Ion Iliescu (a former nomenklatura member who served as Romania's first President after the fall of the communism), who claimed about himself to be "poor and honest."

Iliescu's successor, Social Democratic Party - PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu, poured water on the incipient scandal, saying that his party does not entirely support the wage hikes, Ziarul Financiar reported.

Specifically, Ciolacu promised to convince his ruling partners, namely the Liberal Party and the ethnic Hungarians - the authors of the amendments passed by the Senate on September 21 - not to enforce the wage hikes for the members of parliament and other high-rank public servants.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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