POSITION NOTE. Public Sector Salary Reform: Necessary, but Not at the Expense of Citizens and Not Amid the Rising Cost of the Basic Consumer Basket

The Civic Movement “Construim Încredere” maintains that salary reform in the public sector is necessary, but it must not be carried out at the expense of citizens and amid the rising cost of the basic consumer basket.

The document shows that the current salary system has real imbalances: excessive gaps between positions, base salaries below the minimum level for some employees, exaggerated bonuses, and a “performance” system applied almost across the board.

However, the main issue is the way the reform is being proposed now. While the state’s personnel expenses are expected to increase by approximately MDL 4.84 billion in 2027, the Government is also proposing tax increases, including VAT on essential goods, food products, and products for children.

At the same time, the largest salary increases would go to the highest-ranking state positions. For the President, the Speaker of Parliament, and the Prime Minister, the base salary could increase from MDL 21,000 to MDL 65,100.

The Movement calls for the state to put its own house in order before any salary increases at the top: an audit of public institutions and state-owned enterprises, verification of unjustified salaries, elimination of parasitic positions, and clear publication of the budgetary impact of the reform.

The reform must be carried out from the bottom up: priority for low salaries, full transparency, and financing from the state’s internal savings, not through new taxes imposed on families’ basic consumer basket.