President Traian Basescu explained yesterday after the meetingwith the unions why the wage cut step had been taken: If it doesnot happen, we would have to take another loan in 2011 and Romaniais already paying 10 billion euros on foreign debt as it is thisyear. Basescu remained firm in his position: all wages will be cutby the same percentage.
This seems to be the option accepted by the IMF. Jeffrey Franks,the head of the IMF mission, however, wanted to make it clear thatit came from the Romanian party.
The unions announced after the meeting with the chief of state atthe Cotroceni Palace yesterday that they would not drop theprotests announced, with the schedule to be set this week.Opposition parties, PNL (National Liberal Party) and PSD (SocialDemocratic-Party), which received a visit from the IMF delegation,too, announced they continued to disagree with the step to cutpublic sector wages by 25%, and pensions and unemployment benefitsby 15%. The government may have some trouble getting the measureapproved by the Parliament, because it has to be endorsed via a lawdraft or an emergency ordinance, which, however, has to be approvedby the Parliament, too.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
