In a statement to the country, Romanian prime minister Emil Boc has said the government has decided to dismiss as many as 8500 public servants, as part of the restructuring scheme, which aims to trim government agencies and make them more cost efficient as well as productive.

As a direct consequence of the purge, more than half the government agencies will be terminated altogether while others will be restructured, Romanian media has reported. The administrative shake-up is expected to save as much as one billion euro. 

According to the measures, out of the 224 government departments, agencies and other associations, directly or indirectly controlled and subjected to the central government, only 107 will remain in operation. This would mean that 8545 public servants will find themselves looking for a job.

On August 5 2009, Romanian president Traian Basescu told his country during a television address that between 10 000 and 15 000 public servants would be shed from government duty.

In the address, he stressed that as much as 20 per cent of the public sector would be trimmed at a time of global economic downturn.

"There are many incompetent people who currently have a government job," he said at the time. "And they will have to go".

However, he distinctly underlined that critical sectors such as health care, education, the armed forces and the ministry of interior would be unaffected by the purge.

The cleansing operation will affect not only government agencies but presidential institutions as well.

"Those measures should have been implemented a long time ago," Boc said. "Unfortunately, previous attempts to get rid of redundant institutions were blocked. But it will be done, as budget expenses must be curtailed, or we will be facing harsher problems in the future," he said.