USR's Ciolos argues reduced VAT, no green certificate payment on energy bills, proposed since autumn

Chairman of the Save Romania Union (USR) Dacian Ciolos said on Wednesday that measures are needed with a direct impact on reducing the price of electricity and gas bills paid by consumers, namely the reduction of VAT and the elimination of the payment of the green certificate, solutions that have been proposed since autumn by the party he leads, Agerpres reports.

"There is a solution that we, USR, have been proposing since then, in autumn: measures that have a direct impact on reducing the price that consumers pay, namely the reduction of VAT. We then proposed from 19 pct to 5 pct, for a certain period of time, as well as the elimination of the payment of that carbon certificate, the green certificate, which now also appears on the bills. Such measures are very clear, it is very clear how they can be applied, they have a direct and immediate impact on the price paid by the final consumer, while the measures that were adopted then are complicated, it has not been clear since then how they will be applied, what the rules are and now we are in a situation where the authority has made some decisions, but does not seem to have the levers to control and follow the way these measures are implemented," Dacian Ciolos told private broadcaster Digi 24.

"We know that prices are rising and that the citizen, the final consumer, has been living some dramas, for a few months now. So I don't know why we had to wait so many months for the other shoe to drop, namely that those measures do not translate into prices, when we could have taken those measures that USR supported from the beginning, in the autumn, and I see that now both Mr. Ciolacu [Social Democratic Party leader, ed.n.] is talking about the reduction of VAT, and the Prime Minister, too. But if we had adopted them since then there wouldn't be that pride: "no, the PSD measures are good, leave the others", so that we return now after two months, three months, to realize that, in fact, what was adopted then was both complicated and unclear and behold, inefficient for citizens who pay high prices," the USR leader added.