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Cutting insurance premiums means limiting the possibility of covering insurers' costs, which would affect the system in the long term, Finance Minister Marce Bolos said on Wednesday evening.
"Here are the calculations made by the Financial Oversight Authority, but you realise that a cut in the value of the insurance premiums means that there is a limited possibility of insurers covering their costs. Since such a reduction affects the long-term insurance system, I don't think that Romania needs a new problem in the insurance system. That's why I said very pragmatically, I think, that a very detailed calculation must be done, because it's like when you request a tax facility that can generate macroeconomic imbalances. The same is true with the insurance system. A lot of caution is needed and the calculations are the ones that tell the truth," Bolos told Digi 24 private broadcaster referring to the hauliers' request for a cut in the RCA third-party liability car insurance.
At the same time, asked if any of the protesters' demands could be met, Bolos said that a package of six measures seen as achievable had been established.
"It was the Prevention Law, where we totally agreed not to be so harsh in applying fines for offences not related to tax evasion. We agreed with the procedural simplification part to make the life of farmers and hauliers friendlier in the relationship with the state. We agreed that they should be exempted from paying tax on the profit reinvested in farms and the profit reinvested by the hauliers. We agreed that for the subsidies they receive we should think of a methodology so that they are not taxed with the profit tax and, from that point of view, we identified a way of working with you. What we had as feasible and common sense measures...includes a long-term investment plan for agriculture. In addition to InvestAlim and the programme designed by the government to support the food industry,investment in irrigation infrastructure remains a priority for our country and a long-term investment mechanism was discussed. Through better management, we decided to give them a helping hand to reduce border crossing times. And, through the Romanian Customs Authority, we planned for the coming days to consider simplified procedures for those who are in the category of low fiscal risk and to support them especially in this bureaucratic way of the steps they take in their relationship with us."
