Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc survived his second no-confidence motion in a week on Thursday, in a session which was dramatically interrupted by a jumper from the visitors' gallery, according to dpa. Boc was about to deliver a speech when a man climbed to the railing on the balcony, yelled "Boc, you stole our children's rights" and jumped. The man, identified as a technician working for national television, sustained some injuries from the fall and was rushed to a hospital. He was conscious and his condition listed as stable, the Mediafax news agency said. The parliament briefly adjourned and the opposition did not return to the session after the interruption, so the no-confidence motion failed without a vote. Boc last week staked the survival of his cabinet on the fast-track approval of the public wages act, coupling its adoption with a vote of confidence. The law provides a 10-per-cent pay increase for civil servants, recovering only a part of the 25-per-cent cut the government imposed in July. Following the failed no-confidence motions, the bill automatically becomes law. It was the second time this year that Boc used the possibility of confidence votes to push bills through quickly and to avoid legislative wrangling that can last weeks or even months. The public wages act forms part of the agreement Romania struck with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union for a 20- billion-euro (26.5 billion dollar) bailout in 2009. To qualify for the assistance, Bucharest agreed to a set of austerity measures to bring spending and the deficit under control. The government has already sacked 70,000 civil servants in the past two years, cut public wages and hiked the value-added tax from 19 to 24 per cent. Boc's measures secured the funds Romania needed to remain afloat, but caused outrage among the population, leading to a wave of protests over the last two years.
