According to the sources, talks touched on restoring public wages to the level before austerity cuts. The two officials also analyzed whether reducing social security contributions would be possible alongside pay increases.
Basescu said in an address to Parliament two weeks ago the ruling coalition and Government have the duty to restore public wages to the level before austerity cuts, as of June 1.
Two days prior, the prime minister said the government is looking at ways to reduce social security contributions by 3% to 5%, should the economic situation allow it.
After a 25% reduction of salaries in 2010, public sector employees received a 15% pay increase last year. Right now, public sector wages would need another 16% increase to return to initial levels.
Finance Minister Bogdan Dragoi said recently a 16% increase in public sector wages starting June would have an impact of 2 billion lei (EUR457 million) per year.
In addition, according to Dragoi, a five percentage point reduction in the social security contributions would mean a budget effort of RON2.3 billion in the last seven months of the year. (EUR1=RON4.3754)