Parliament adopts part of socio-economic package: Increased minimum wage in agriculture and food ratio in hospitals

The plenary of the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday adopted two bills with measures announced in the package of the governing coalition on social assistance and for companies, amid high inflation and the effects caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Therefore, the Parliament approved the basic salary in agriculture of at least 3,000 lei per month and the establishment of a minimum of 22 lei per day for food ratio in hospitals.

The bill, adopted with 269 votes in favor, 10 against and six abstentions, also stipulates the granting of tax facilities to individuals earning wages from employers engaged in activities in the agricultural sector and the food industry.

According to the law, the periods worked in the agricultural sector constitute a contribution period for establishing the right to unemployment benefits and allowances for temporary incapacity for work granted in accordance with the legislation in force.

The establishment of the minimum gross basic salary in the agricultural field at a minimum of 3,000 lei per month is provided in the program of economic and social measures “Support for Romania”, which was presented on Monday by the leaders of the governing coalition.

USR deputies did not agree with this project, slamming it in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies. “It is a bill that reduces the taxation of labor in the specific sector of agriculture, on the model applied in the construction sector. If it were up to us, that’s not the way to go. The best way to do this was to help lower wages, where we have an aberrant tax on labor.

In Romania we have the highest taxes on low wages in all of Europe, (…) thus chasing Romanians from Romania. We have a problem and we need to talk about it at some point. It is not optimal to simply reduce the entire tax rate, it was optimal to give a deduction”, said the USR deputy Claudiu Năsui.

Food ratio in hospitals up to RON 22 per day

Also on Wednesday, the Chamber of Deputies adopted the draft law according to which the amount of food allowance in public health units will be updated annually according to the inflation rate and cannot be less than 22 lei / day of hospitalization. There were 190 votes in favor and 6 abstentions. The food ratio per day in hospitals was only RON 11.

The measures are due to take effect on June 1, 2022, after they are promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis.

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca announced on Tuesday evening that he had discussed with the responsible ministers about the package of measures “Support for Romania” and that legislative solutions are underway. The budgetary impact of the package is almost 4 billion euros, of which 1.8 billion euros are European funds, which represents 3.4% of GDP.