No room for young ambassadors

Almost 40% of Romania”s ambassadors are more than 60 years old, with 15% of them even exceeding the legal retirement age of 65. Ambassador positions are among the best paid and most coveted state jobs. Romanian high-ranking diplomats are granted salaries totalling thousands of euros, with additional perks, are provided with a house for the duration of their service, compensation for family members, and a lot of reimbursed expenses. Young people, however, do not get to these positions due to administrative barriers in the system. Often enough, Romanian ambassadors are the same people who were doing these jobs 20 years ago, sometimes having moved to another country. Only one in ten ambassadors completed their higher education after 1989, with the average age of all ambassadors standing at over 56. Ambassadors are among the best-paid Romanian high-ranking officials, with salaries three times higher than those of the President and the Prime Minister. The biggest salary amounts to 4,330 euros and goes to the Romanian ambassador to Iraq, Mihai Stuparu, 44. The Romanian ambassador to Russia, Ioan Donca, 65, ranks second, with almost 2,920 euros a month, followed closely by Ioan Maxim, 64, Romania”s ambassador to Switzerland, with almost 2,820 euros a month. ZF