Romanian Minister Dragoș Pîslaru Targets Disinformation Campaign Around New Salary Law

Interim Minister of Labour Dragoș Pîslaru said a coordinated network of roughly 50 Facebook pages and websites spread false information to provoke panic over Romania's proposed unified salary law. The pages, he claimed, used bot accounts and AI‑generated images to circulate identical alarmist messages about salary cuts, privileged benefits and other apocalyptic scenarios, targeting political figures and topics such as Moldova, Ukraine and the presidency of Maia Sandu. Their digital infrastructure, according to Pîslaru, spans servers in India, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. He announced he will report the operation to the authorities.

Following union opposition to the draft law, Pîslaru also scheduled a live Facebook session on Thursday at 15:00 to discuss the legislation with the public. The reform aims to replace the 2017 salary framework, introduce new salary grids and coefficients, and increase the total public‑sector wage budget by about 8 billion lei. Pîslaru stressed that “a salary law is not written only by a ministry or certain unions; every citizen must be able to contribute.”

The proposal has triggered protests from several trade unions, including the National Ambulance Workers' Federation, which warns that the law could reduce monthly earnings for some staff by 2,000‑4,000 lei. Other sectors, such as health and justice, have also expressed dissent, marking the salary law as a contentious issue in Romanian public policy.