Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Friday that he wants the draft national budget to come out of Parliament as approved by the government, noting that it cannot be said that it is a small budget, a clarification made after the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) proposed in the budget committees that the money remaining after the repeal of the special pensions of lawmakers be directed to the children's allowances, according to AGERPRES.
"I said from the beginning that I want this budget to come out of the Romanian Parliament as approved by government. If there are savings, we look at where these savings will be redirected. (...) I still believe that we must, at this moment, have this budget; let it stay as approved by the government," Citu said at the Parliament House.
He added that allowances had been increased by 20% this year.
"In the European Union, wages last year rose by an average of about 3% in the public sector. In the private sector we have seen estimates for 2021 that wages remain constant, so I believe that a 20% increase is also significant for allowances under the current crisis circumstances. (...) It is a predictable way of doing economic policy and we have a budget and tax strategy that we have presented and we stick to this budget and tax strategy," the prime minister underlined.
The budget is focused on investment and reform, said Citu.
"It is a budget focused on investment; there is investment at its core, and it is also a budget that forces reform in public, central and local administrations. Therefore, I prefer it to leave Parliament as it was voted on. (...) At this moment, we cannot say that Romania's national budget is small. We have a budget with higher outlays than last year; we cannot say that it is a small budget," said Citu.