The head of the Prime Minister's Chancellery, Mihai Jurca, said on Friday that the operational leasing purchase of 17 Dacia Duster pickups was done in compliance with the law and resulted in a 10-fold cut of car rental expenses compared to 100 days ago.
"We started in June from a monthly cost of RON 850,000, today we are at RON 84,000, it's true that we no longer have drivers. The cost is 90% lower compared to the moment when we took over this responsibility and the goal we declared back then was to cut public money expenditures as much as possible and, together with our colleagues, we continue to work toward this every day," Jurca declared at the Victoria Palace, according AGERPRES.
According to Jurca, at the Chancellery level, solutions were sought to reduce costs with official cars and, based on the offers received, the contract for the operational leasing of the 17 Dacia Duster pickups was reached.
"We requested a price offer from the State Protocol Property Corporation (RA-APPS) for the rental of cars that are no longer under warranty, with and without a driver, and we requested quotations from the two car manufacturers in Romania, Ford and Dacia. The offers we received from RA-APPS - vehicles without a driver and out of warranty - were of RON 120,000 per month from Ford, and RON 80,000 per month from Dacia. Also, in the talks with Ford, we agreed that two Ford Puma SUVs manufactured at the Craiova factory - the first and only electric car produced in Romania - be allocated under a free loan contract to the government, for the use of the colleagues at the Chancellery," Jurca explained.
The head of the Prime Minister's Chancellery added that in the case of the Dacia Duster pickup trucks, this is not a purchase, but a rental contract, operational leasing in technical terms, and the decision was made to waive the drivers starting with October 1.
"The contract signed is for three months, with a one-month grace period, and during this entire period we will take steps for entering a three- or four-year framework contract, so as to reduce the costs with car renting even more. We will waive drivers starting with October 1, which again helps us reduce costs a lot," Jurca specified.
He also claimed that the law was respected as far as the contract is concerned.
"The law is very clear and allows the rental of utility trucks. The vehicles we rented are classified as such. We did nothing but comply with the law," Jurca said.
These explanations come as the Union of Government Employees (SAALG) criticized on Thursday the leasing purchase of 17 Dacia Duster pickups by the Prime Minister's Chancellery led by Mihai Jurca, saying that the deal was in violation of the law prohibiting leasing for public institutions.
"Although OUG. No. 156/2024 and OUG. No. 34/2023 expressly prohibit the leasing of vehicles by public institutions, Mihai Jurca concluded an operational leasing contract for no less than 17 Duster pickup trucks, (...) by resorting to a cynical solution: using the Romanian Automotive Register legislation to reinterpret the ban and to bring, for the three months left until the end of the year, the vehicles to the government's yard, thus concealing an acquisition prohibited by the legislator," the unionists said. They point the finger at the deliberate change of the regulation to give the appearance of legitimacy for this car fleet, and term this move as an example of irresponsible use of public money, in defiance of financial discipline and legality.
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