Prime Minister Vasile Tofan has stated that he is fully determined to see the reduction of the state apparatus through to the end, TRIBUNA reports.

“We already have a plan. You know that I announced this at the very first Government meeting. I requested that, by September 22, a plan be presented to reduce the bureaucratic apparatus, primarily by optimizing, merging or liquidating certain agencies.

Let me give you some figures. Relatively few people work in the central public administration — the State Chancellery and the ministries — around 1,800. So there really aren’t many. On the other hand, we have a very large number of employees in various agencies, and their number is very high. That is where we need to intervene first.

I understand that we will have difficult discussions, but we have 4,000 employees at Moldsilva, 900 at the Anti-Hail Service and 1,000 at ANSA. If we look at each agency individually, we can see that there are a great many employees. We need to tighten our belts here. In some of these agencies, we need to reduce the number of employees and analyze what activities can be carried out with the help of technology or through other means. If we continue like this, we will no longer be able to pay salaries,” the official said during the “Pe față” program on Moldova 1.

The Prime Minister said he has the impression that people themselves want this as well, “because they tell us: we want spending on salaries in the state apparatus to be reduced, we don’t want so many outrageous salaries anymore, and we want to reduce the number of civil servants who simply move paperwork from one place to another.”

“Most civil servants do a good job, they are hardworking people, and I thank them for what they do. But there are also civil servants who, let’s say, do not necessarily hold the most important positions. Perhaps we can help them move to the private sector, where there is a very high demand for employees. If there were no such demand, believe me, companies would not be bringing people in from other countries.

As for the deadlines established previously — they all remain in force. Everything I have asked ministers to do, with specific deadlines, remains valid. We will not delay even by a single day. I insist on this. My team has tried several times to convince me to postpone the presentation of the tax reform in order to further refine certain aspects. No! We announce it on the day we promised and communicate it on the day we planned. This discipline must be respected day by day, because we have three years to carry out these reforms,” the Prime Minister added.

Vasile Tofan noted that the Government has until October 2029 to work, and that during these three years it must change the country.

“If we fail to do this, it will be a huge missed opportunity, because I do not know what the situation will be after 2029. There could be a different configuration in Parliament. Right now, we have a single party in government, and people know whom to hold accountable. We have three years to do our job, and I very much hope we will succeed.

I also hope we will have people’s understanding. But they need to know that I will not always come and tell them what they want to hear. I can promise them, however, that I will always address the problem directly and tell them openly: folks, this is the situation. Do we have money or not? Is the state apparatus too large, or are there still areas where we can optimize? I believe there is still room for optimization,” he further stated.