Moldova’s proposed unified public sector pay law would increase salaries across the state sector, including those of the president, prime minister and speaker of parliament, President Maia Sandu said, arguing that the current system contains significant imbalances.
Speaking on Pro TV, Sandu said the reform aims to establish a salary hierarchy based on the responsibility and complexity of public positions rather than introducing increases solely for senior officials.
According to the president, the new pay framework was developed by a team of experts with support from the World Bank, which assessed positions across the public sector by examining job complexity, levels of responsibility and the competitiveness of public salaries compared with the private sector, particularly in information technology, where the state faces recruitment difficulties.
Sandu confirmed that the proposal includes salary adjustments for the country’s highest officeholders but stressed that figures discussed publicly refer to gross salaries and are part of the formula proposed by the Finance Ministry.
“Today, a department head in a public institution earns more than the president of the country, the speaker of parliament or the prime minister. I do not believe that is a fair situation,” she said.
The president added that she does not expect ministers’ salaries to double, noting that ministerial pay had already been increased recently to what she described as a “decent” level.
Regarding members of parliament, Sandu said the draft law provides for a higher basic salary while eliminating some bonuses and allowances. She also defended reimbursement of travel expenses for lawmakers visiting their constituencies, saying such costs should be covered.
“Let’s not resort to populism. They also need a decent salary, and if they incur work-related expenses, those should be reimbursed,” she said.
Sandu stressed that the primary objective of the reform is not to raise the salaries of senior officials but to improve pay across the entire public sector, particularly for lower-paid employees.
“The main issue is how to raise the salaries of those who earn much less. We are trying, and we hope, to achieve a meaningful increase for everyone,” she said.
The government published the draft law on a unified public sector remuneration system last week. The proposal includes restructuring public service positions, introducing a separate remuneration mechanism for IT specialists, creating the concept of “hard-to-fill positions”, reducing and reorganising bonuses, and gradually phasing out exceptional reference values currently used in salary calculations.
According to the authorities, the reform is intended to eliminate wage disparities, strengthen the role of base salaries and make the public sector more competitive in recruiting and retaining specialists in areas facing staff shortages.