Government approves raise for public officials

The Government today approved salary raises for the holders of public offices effective on 1 June 2012, Info-Prim Neo reports. The monthly salary of the President has been raised to 15,000 lei and that of the Parliament's Speaker to 13,000 lei, which is also the amount that will be paid to the chairs of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Superior Council of Magistrates as well as to the Prosecutor General. The Parliament deputies and the ministers will receive 10,500 lei a month. The president of the Court of Appeals and the chairs of courts will receive 8,500 lei and 7,500 lei respectively. The salaries of Constitutional Court judges will range from 6,000 lei to 11,600 lei, and the salaries of common judges will depend on the positions they hold in their courts. Salary raises have also been offered to the directors of the Security and Intelligence Service and the Personal Data Protection Center, to all the members of the National Integrity Commission, the Central Election Commission, the Broadcasting Council, and the National Social Insurance Corporation. Higher salaries have been offered to local officials as well. Thus, the salary of the Mayor of Chisinau has been raised to 10,500 lei and that of his deputies to 8,800 lei. District heads will receive salaries ranging from 8,000 to 8,300 lei, depending on the number of population of the respective district. Town mayors will earn from 6,200 to 6,800 lei and village mayors up to 5,800 lei. The salary of the Gagauz Governor has been equalized to that of the Chisinau Mayor, or 10,500 lei. Labor Minister Valentina Buliga couldn't tell reporters by how much in percentage terms the public officials' salaries would rise on average. “But I can tell you instead that my current salary is 7,100 lei and nothing more; no bonuses, no premiums”, said Valentina Buliga, who after the general raise will see her salary rise to 10,500 lei. In total, the measure will raise the salaries to roughly 7,000 public officials. The cost of the measure is estimated at 56 million lei. The bill is yet to be adopted by Parliament.