Ilie Bolojan Announces Senate Cuts: 178 Jobs, Cars, New Rules

The President of the Senate, Ilie Bolojan, announced on Wednesday that the Permanent Bureau of the parliamentary chamber approved two memorandums aimed at “improving the Senate’s activity” in several areas. He highlighted staff reduction and efficiency, legislative process improvements, cutting costs on the vehicle fleet and fuel, and “eliminating sinecures.” The Liberal politician supports reducing the Senate’s workforce from 796 to 618.

“In these days since becoming Senate President, I’ve observed some undeniable negative accumulations. At the Senate, instead of staff in dignitaries’ offices coming and going with them, as is standard practice in public administration, permanent hires have been allowed,” Ilie Bolojan said during a press conference at the Senate.

He noted that “throughout electoral cycles, hiring after hiring occurred,” leading to situations where “someone in a leadership role, for instance in the Senate, cannot bring collaborators but instead finds people hired by their predecessors, whose qualifications might be questionable.”

“We must follow the law of normality: you come with a dignitary, you leave with a dignitary. This ensures that they perform well, assemble a team of professionals aligned with their goals, and justify their position,” he stated.

Bolojan pointed out that “there is overstaffing in several areas.” He explained, “In committees with high workloads, like the legal or budget committees, the number of parliamentary officials is justified. However, in committees like the regulation committee, which meets only occasionally, having five staff members is hard to justify for what they accomplish over two months.”

He added that physical attendance is also lacking. “We need a properly sized and professional staff to avoid wasting public funds. The Senate should set an example because we cannot ask others to avoid wasting public money while not doing so ourselves.”

He mentioned “analyzing ways to eliminate these sinecures” and proposed “a new organizational chart to the Permanent Bureau, which has been approved.” “With its implementation in early February during the ordinary session, it will become mandatory and finalized by the end of March at the latest,” the Senate President concluded.

During the press conference, Bolojan addressed the employees who were booing him: “Dear colleagues, I respect you.” At one point, Bolojan asked a journalist to repeat the question, because he could not hear it because of the booing of the Senate employees. At the end of the press conference, the Senate President went to talk to the employees, who reproached him for wanting to reorganize the organizational chart.