Moldova’s Competition Council Seeks Pay Rises to Retain Staff

The Competition Council is calling for a pay rise

The Competition Council is facing a staff shortage and difficulties in retaining staff due to uncompetitive salaries. The institution’s president receives approximately 34,000 lei per month, after tax, and draws attention to the higher salaries at other regulatory authorities, where the net remuneration of senior managers exceeds 100,000 lei.

Alina Cebotariov

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The issue was discussed at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Budget and Finance.

Cebotariov emphasised that the institution needs to be strengthened in order to fulfil its remit and remain independent.

“There is Directive 1/2019, which obliges the country to provide this institution with sufficient capacity to ensure it is sustainable and independent. And I am now doing my utmost to demonstrate this: the Competition Council’s remit is very broad, covering the entire economy in terms of competition. As long as there is economic activity, the Competition Council has a role to play, or in the area of state aid. So there are two very broad areas,” he said.

The European Union delegation sent a letter to the Parliamentary Committee on the Economy, Budget and Finance, in which it highlighted the importance of strengthening the Competition Council’s capacity, including by ensuring competitive salaries.

“We are completely unsustainable in terms of pay compared to other supervisory authorities with mandates – I wouldn’t say they are similar, because the Competition Council’s mandate is very broad. On the other hand, regarding staff numbers, based on the figures approved by Parliament – 120 people – we currently have around 70. We take on 10 and six leave. Why? Because the work is very complex, very specialised, very complicated. The tasks are very demanding and the decisions we make involve hundreds of millions. But, given the salary they receive, it somehow doesn’t measure up. Staff turnover is constant,” explained the representative of the Competition Council.

The draft pay bill provides for pay rises for competition inspectors from 20,000 to 28,000 lei, bringing their salaries to a level comparable to that of prosecutors and investigators.

“At the same time, if we compare certain posts, the salaries are not comparable with those at other authorities. I am referring now to ANRE, CNPF and ARCOM; I don’t think there’s even any point in mentioning the BNM,” he noted.

This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.

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