Romanian Govt To Set Costs Standards For Staff Expenses In All Public Institutions

Boc told representatives of the business environment during a meeting Friday that the government is trying to apply to the public sector what is common practice in the private sector.

"What we’re doing now with cost standards is apply private sector policies to the public sector. We are now working to set cost standards for every public institution, see what the government can afford to pay from a mayoralty serving a population of one thousand or a ministry with two or three thousand employees, see what their staff requirements are,” Boc said.

The prime minister said public administration has “ballooned” over time and needs to be rendered more efficient.

"There are cases where the public apparatus has become oversized and doubled from 2005 to 2008, and there are also institutions that employ a low number of staff although they have a lot of work to do,” Boc said.

Boc criticized local authorities Wednesday evening, after the Cabinet meeting, for their high expenses. The prime minister said staff expenses in the country’s local public administration will be set according to the population served, based on cost standards to be completed by mid-September.

People who attended talks between the Romanian government and the International Monetary Fund told MEDIAFAX Thursday the IMF asked the government to cut public expenditure by 1-2% of the gross domestic product and warned expenses were high ion the first half of the year especially in the case of local authorities.

Romanian President Traian Basescu said Thursday on public radio that the government should hurry and fire about 20% of “useless” employees in the public sector.