Chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) Kelemen Hunor declared on Monday that at this moment the government is nowhere near to having implemented reforms, because raising certain taxes, excise duties or levies "does not mean reform", and the ruling coalition should speed up measures to reduce spending in the central and local administration, a package which - in his opinion - should be adopted by pledging responsibility before Parliament.
"These are all necessary measure, I admit it, so that we collect more revenues into the state coffers, but it's not reform. Axing jobs in the local and central administration is necessary and is reform indeed, but we haven't done that yet. A step towards reform has been taken in Education, which singles out this field, then again in the judiciary we are trying to carry out a substantial reform, because people expect a fairer, more just governing," the UDMR Chairman told a press conference in Arad.
He cited the increase in the retirement age in the judiciary as an example of expected reform.
"Raising the retirement age is a change in the system, we'll see what the Constitutional Court says on this in two days, and also reshaping the pensions of magistrates in such a way that they collect an appropriate retirement income, but not higher than the salary, that is, 70% of the average income," the UDMR leader said.
He added that if the reform in the judiciary does not get the Constitutional Court's nod of approval, the government and the coalition will have a "morality issue", because it is not fair to raise various taxes "while continuing to pay pensions to people who leave the public service at 48 - 50 years old".
Kelemen Hunor said that reforms in the central and local administration must take place by the end of this year, and should be followed by measures for stimulating the economy.
"Otherwise, we won't have economic growth. This year we are in a technical recession, if we close the year with 0.2 - 0.3% growth, this is actually stagnation, if we want to call it nicely, but if we want to call it in economy lingo, it's a technical recession," the UDMR head said.
He also suggested that the administration reform package be also adopted by pledging responsibility because passing a bill of such magnitude through Parliament is more difficult.
Kelemen Hunor also voiced his convistion that in 2026 the state will have to provide "incentives and attractive conditions for investors".
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