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Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu said on Monday that the "Support for Romania" plan offers a form of protection against price increases for more than half of the population.
"The 'Support for Romania' plan will respond to the difficult time we are in and I am glad that I have worked on this plan alongside Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and Chairman Kelemen Hunor. Today we have finalized the details of each measure, we have established what every minister has to do, but also Parliament, so that this plan can be adopted and implemented as soon as possible," Ciolacu said at the Palace of the Parliament.
He added that the action plan is worth 17.3 billion RON, and a large number of these measures will have EU funding.
"Practically, through this plan, more than half of the Romanian population will benefit from some form of protection against price increases," Ciolacu said.
The PSD leader stated that this plan focuses on combating rising prices, supporting Romanian farmers and increasing processing capacity in the food industry, Agerpres.ro informs.
"We support pensioners, low-income families by allocating basic food vouchers and student vouchers. The value of food vouchers will be 50 euros, awarded every two months to the most vulnerable categories. Vouchers for students, amounting to 30 euros per month, will be granted during the school period for supplies, clothes and food. Secondly, we will support private employees by increasing the value of meal vouchers by 50%. And yet another measure that comes in support of employees, both in the private and public environment, refers to zero taxes for the voluntary increase of the minimum wage by 200 lei. In other words, the money will go into the employee's pocket without the employer paying any money to the state," Ciolacu said.
He also mentioned the measures intended for agriculture and stated that the state must intervene to support Romanian farmers now.
"Thus, we want the minimum wage in agriculture to be increased to 3,000 RON. We have all seen that this measure has worked in construction. Now is the time for it to be introduced in agriculture as well. And, most importantly, we must increase the production and manufacturing capacity of agricultural products here in Romania. Romania must end its current policy of net exporter of the agricultural production. And a first step is to grant a premium of 10 percent for farmers, for the processing of agricultural products in Romania," said the PSD leader.
