‘Seven go, one hired rule’ to be observed in the public sector, Finance Minister pledges.
Foreign Minister Andrei Marga yesterday informed that Prime Minister Victor Ponta had passed on instructions for the unblocking of vacancies in ministries beyond the currently applicable rule ‘seven go, one hired’, but within the budget envelope of payroll expenditure agreed on with the IMF. ‘If we take a closer look at the negotiations with the IMF which are always invoked, there is a limit set on the financial envelope of positions not the number of positions as such. So you can move within the same financial envelope’, Mediafax quotes Minister Marga as having said. He added that the financial envelope for pay roll expenditure was ‘the one set by the budget law, combined with past and future reviews’. Asked what vacancies would be advertised by MAE, Marga said no evaluation had been made yet, but that those within diplomatic missions should have priority. The minister added that the MAE organisational chart would be modified to include four positions of secretary of state, one more than today. Marga also noted that there secretary of state offices were currently filled – Bogdan Aurescu, Luminita Odobescu and Dan Petre – with the forth one to be named in the upcoming period.Also yesterday, the Minister of Administration and Interior, Ioan Rus, announced that the Government would approve by memorandum the unblocking of a position at the ministry to hire Dinamo Club gymnast Catalina Ponor as a sub-inspector. Rus says, in her new position, Ponor will qualify for a remuneration more appropriate for her athletic performance. But it seems that hirings will not only be unblocked at the ministries. Another minister, this time the one in charge of Health, Vasile Cepoi, yesterday requested the unblocking of 11,000 vacancies in the healthcare system. Responding to the announcement about the unblocking of ministry vacancies, Deputy Prime Minister Florin Georgescu (photo) said some of the ministries or institutions could also hire above the level agreed on with the financial institutions but, as a whole, the ‘seven go, one hired’ rule would still apply in the public sector. ‘There will be no derogation. We will keep the 1 to 7 ratio, but there could be some differences among the various ministries. In some place we might have 1 to 10, while in another place we might have 1 to 5. We cannot overstep the boundaries set by agreement with the international financial institutions because that’s a signal of credibility’, Georgescu said. After negotiations with the IMF, in 2009 the Government adopted an emergency ordinance suspending the filling of vacancies in the administration by either competition or examination, only allowing the hiring of one worker for every seven exiting the system. The exceptions were management positions, high civil servants and undersized administrations. The rule also applied in 2010 and 2011.
New wave of appointments by USL Government
Georgeta Gavrila, Secretary General of the Ministry of Defence, has been nominated as Prefect of Bucharest, but the decision is still pending in the Government. Social Democrat Dan Tataru yesterday became liaison with the Parliament, public information and increase of the quality of the life of the personnel, replacing Mihail Vasile Ozunu (PDL). Tataru also occupied the position in the PDL-PSD Government back in 2009. Another new appointment is PNL Vice President Stelian Fedorca, who was appointed by Victor Ponta as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education yesterday. Another appointment is announced at the Environment Guard, after Ponta has dismissed its head Silvian Ionescu. The prime minister entrusted the leadership of the Guard to Deputy General Commissar Daniel Bogdan until a new head is named. Silvian Ionescu replies, denouncing the ‘low down trick’ PM Ponta played him when saying that he had dismissed him, while knowing that he had already submitted his resignation letter to the registry desk of the Government eight days before.
