Romanian health care workers holding a national flag protest a new wage law in front of the government's headquarters in Bucharest, October 7, 2009. (Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images)
Outcry against public pay reforms—that include scrapping intricate bonus schemes and introducing mandatory unpaid leave—split the ruling coalition last week and adds pressure on the government ahead of November's presidential election.
Chanting "thieves! thieves!" some 13,000 trade unionists from across the country demanded a change in government. On Monday 800,000 civil servants went on a one-day strike.
"I want this government to go. They have brought us to chaos!", said Eugen Lela, a 51-year-old heavy machinery operator from the mountain town of Campina.
Parliament will hold a no-confidence vote against the government on Oct. 13, but analysts say political instability will last until after the presidential election or well into December.
The vote pits Boc's Democrat-Liberals against the centrist opposition and Boc's former coalition partners, the Social Democrats, and the groupings struggle to balance meeting IMF demands with winning votes in the relatively poor EU state.
Romanian health workers shout anti-government slogans by a banner showing Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc dressed as the grim Reaper, as they protest the new civil servants' wage law. (Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images)
"There are few near-term paths to a fundamentally stable political arrangement," said Jon Levy from Eurasia Group in New York.
Both Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investor Service said Romania's credit ratings could come under downward pressure if the problems threaten economic policies or delay fiscal reforms.
The IMF has asked Romania to introduce sweeping fiscal reforms to curb unrestrained salary growth in the public sector, to impose controls on how tax money is spent and to clarify salary levels.
The goal is to free up state cash for modernisation, vital to bring back foreign investment, to prevent a financing crisis and to curb fraud in the EU's second most corrupt state.
But fiscal cutbacks affect the vast public sector, which employs roughly a third of the workforce and is offers crucial electorate.
