Premium
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Monday that the final form of the fiscal and budgetary measures for which the Government wants to assume responsibility has been drafted.
He said, at the beginning of the government meeting, that Romania can no longer afford facilities and privileges of 75 billion RON, plus a tax evasion of 150 billion RON per year, when all this represents 15 percent of GDP, agerpres reports.
He added that Romania's budget is based on taxes paid by employees, on their consumption and on public investments. On the other hand, Ciolacu noted "an aberrant paradox": Romania has the highest labor taxation in Europe, but among the lowest taxes and capital taxes in Europe.
"As prime minister, I am obliged to put Romania's interest above the interests of some groups who are not satisfied that they are making profits not of billions of euros, but only of hundreds of millions of euros. There is a vital interest, that of not ending up with the stopping of European funds and of the PNRR reforms. In sum, we are talking about a huge stake, over 70 billion euros, and Romania's accession to the OECD, which would bring an influx of foreign investments to our country. I will not undertake to endanger such strategic objectives of Romania", the prime minister said.
He rejected the statements according to which the measures proposed by the Government would bring "austerity", arguing that the austerity measures were those of 2010, when salaries and pensions were cut and the VAT was increased from 19 to 24%.
"At that time, Romanians were poor and their purchasing power collapsed. However, this Government does not increase the general VAT and we keep the VAT for food and medicines at 9%, just as we keep the lowest VAT, 5%, on firewood, energy, gas and books. So there is no risk of prices rising in the winter. Furthermore, one cannot speak of austerity when a key measure is a 10% increase in the minimum wage from 3,000 to 3,300, and in construction, through an emergency ordinance, we are increasing the minimum wage by 12.5%, from 4,000 to 4,500. Thus, we are talking about an increase in the minimum wage for 2 million people, and ordinary employees will not pay any additional tax," explained Marcel Ciolacu.
He also emphasized that the "most ambitious" reform of the budgetary apparatus after the 1989 Revolution will be implemented.
