Hello. This room is almost as full as it was
when we had those students here before the election.
It's nice to see this. I'll make more jokes
because you're all tense and this will have a happy ending.
If you follow politics, you'll know that when we started,
we said we were going to need two terms to fix the country.
We didn't consider your impatience back then.
We've now experienced what it means when people
are waiting reforms for 30 years, since '95.
We know we'll have two terms but we won't have anything
left to do because you'll be satisfied with our reforms.
I'm kidding, but there's a lot of truth to this.
All kidding aside,
I'm not a judge, as you've figured out. I'm just an engineer.
I'm puzzled that you had a lawyer as a Prime Minister
and that he did nothing for you.
I wonder about your collegial responsibility back then,
but we engineers enjoy tough challenges, so thank you
for the invitation. I would like to point out
that I'm a layman. Before I entered politics, I believed
that the judiciary is the third branch of government
and that it's independent. That's the perception of laypeople.
Apparently, the Constitution says the same thing.
I was faced with reality at a friendly lunch
that didn't end all that amicably.
I wasn't there to tackle the independence of the judiciary,
but I realized that this independence exists only on paper.
You have no independence when it comes to appointing
your highest representatives, and you have even less
independence in monetary matters.
I thought about this and realized that even
in the judiciary, things aren't how they are portrayed to the public.
In the meantime, I realized that it's the same in every sector.
We apparently live in illusions about how things ought to be,
while the real-life situation in our country is very different.
We're now in 2023, but even back in October,
I said this was going to be a year of reform.
And we will carry out reforms in 2023,
including wage system reforms. This can't be excluded
from other reforms because if we wish to organize
the country, we have to tackle all this at once.
This year will also be a year of reforms for the judiciary.
We'll have reforms ensuring the autonomy of the judiciary,
regarding terms and appointments,
but we'll also reform the operations of the judicial system,
and I hope it'll only get better.
But we'll start with wage system reform,
which needs to be a part of broader reforms
of the wage system.
We're not done. The happy ending is coming.
If we don't carry out reform of the wage system
in an appropriate manner, any measure we adopt today
can only be temporary. It may last a year or two,
but we'll then have a repeat of the current situation.
And what is that situation? In the last... let's say since 2008,
your real wages have declined five percent.
Real wages. Since 2008.
Those are your average wages, not the base.
In the same period, the real wages of others in the public sector
have risen by 15%.
The difference is 20%.
We can all be puzzled by this. You can be angry.
It's always good to express your feelings because repressed
emotions won't do you any good. But these are the facts.
We're aware of these facts, and wouldn't you know it,
these facts aren't true just for you. They are true
for all officials. I'm also mystified why we haven't had
any smarter Prime Ministers. Perhaps that's because of the pay.
There could be a connection.
I understand you, and I even share your destiny in a way,
symbolically, if you will.
But let's not just talk about symbolism.
Reform is coming. Yes, we may need three or four more months.
We need to build the foundation for the courts
and the judicial system. This will be up to negotiations. I believe
we can find the best solution together.
You may think I'm just making promises and you may be wondering
about the happy ending, so I decided to do something else
to show how serious we are.
We decided that on January 1, and not June 1,
we'll approve a pay bonus for everyone.
We won't name it because we don't wish to preordain the character
of our reform, so we'll call it a bonus. All officials
in the judicial branch will receive this bonus.
Everyone will get the same amount, not a percentage.
That's €600 gross a month starting January 1.
The purpose is clear.
We'd like to increase the base... This is a temporary measure.
We don't want to take it back when the reform is ready.
We want it to be the foundation of our reforms.
Those who are older will naturally get less in percentage terms,
but we feel it's right that we first address those who are paid least.
We want this bonus to be a clear indication of where we intend
to start later on. If you'd like a calculation, I can make one.
The average monthly wage in the judiciary is €4000 gross,
so the 20% I mentioned would be €800.
If we set it at €800, some of you with below-average wages
would be worse off after the reform, and we won't do that.
We'll rather come up with a sustainable system,
so we've decided on €600.
This isn't the end. It's a temporary measure
intended to show you that we aren't just making promises,
but that it will go into effect on January 1 of this year.
That's it as far as wage system reform is concerned.