Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan criticized on Sunday the amendments proposed by the PSD to the draft budget, warning that any additional expenditure must be treated with caution in order not to affect Romania’s economic stability. At the same time, the Head of Government presented the Government’s measures to limit the increase in fuel prices and announced support schemes for farmers and transporters, stressing that municipalities will receive more money than last year.
UPDATE 22.00 The town halls will receive more money this year than last year, Ilie Bolojan also reported
“The tax increase was supposed to be done for 3 years, but it kept being postponed. We avoided generating any expectations. If this budget is adopted in a reasonable version, the part of European funds is important, attracting investments, I am convinced that Romanians can perform in Romania. From the second half of the year, things will settle down and the economic recovery component will begin”.
the prime minister specified.
UPDATE 21.50 Prime Minister Bolojan responds to Olguța Vasilescu: “To deal with the locality’s problems”
Ilie Bolojan revealed that he did not know about the interview given by his mother and implied that it did not go down well with him.
“I didn’t know about that, the morning he showed up I just saw him, even though I had talked to my mom, she didn’t tell me. Sometimes we cross paths, but I can’t be mad at her. She worked hard to send two boys to college.”explained Ilie Bolojan, adding that his mother was polite because the directors of the interview came to the gate.
The prime minister also responded to Olgutea Vasilescu, who mocked her mother’s interview.
“I think everyone should take care of the problems of the town and less of an elderly person, let’s each mind our own business”said Bolojan.
UPDATE 21.40 Bolojan, about the probability that Romanians will only be able to travel by car 5 days out of 7
Asked if in Romania it could end up that people go by car only five days out of seven, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said: “At this point and in the next stage, no.”
“Now we have some turbulence because these supply chains are no longer working. Only 10% of the normal traffic through this strait has passed in these two weeks. It is obvious that the suppliers, the Asian countries, have a supply shortage so they are buying from everywhere and there has been additional pressure on both quantities and prices,” he said. explained Ilie Bolojan.
“Diesel, which is a scarce product in our area, had a much higher increase compared to 40-50%, it is somewhere at 60-70%, while gasoline is below the growth of crude oil. So the high pressure for growth is on diesel. Romania, from this point of view, has much larger gasoline refining capacities, we are exporters of gasoline, therefore, the pressure in Europe, but also in Romania, is on the diesel component“, the prime minister explained.
UPDATE 21.30 Diesel crisis: Bolojan promises an aid scheme for Romanian farmers
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced that farmers will be the beneficiaries of a support scheme similar to the one already adopted for transporters.
“We had no way to avoid this increase, all European countries are in this situation. We acted on two, three components (…) We had a dialogue with the main operators on the Romanian market. (…) We adopted the support scheme for transporters, we gave them predictability until the end of the year. We will do the same for farmers”said Ilie Bolojan.
The prime minister also said that evaluations will be done periodically so that the state can intervene again if necessary.
“We will intervene,” he said.
UPDATE 21.20 Bolojan refuses to say if he is resigning if the draft budget will be radically changed
Asked about this scenario, Bolojan stated: “I trust that, beyond the political games, there are people who understand this budget, which represents the maximum possible. It’s not perfect, but we have to cover the investment components to be able to access European funds and ensure payments to beneficiaries”.
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The prime minister was asked if he is considering tax increases to cover additional expenses from possible budget changes.
“I didn’t consider this option (…) I don’t want to end up in such situations”, answered Ilie Bolojan.
The Head of the Executive thanked the Romanians for understanding the social costs and conveyed that “magical solutions are a lie” alluding to PSD.
“1% on turnover creates serious problems, said the companies I met with. When you do that, big companies stop coming and existing companies stop growing. We agreed in the Coalition to remove this tax, to encourage economic development. We all agreed on it. And in return we will increase the minimum wage. It is abnormal to come up with such a lie, if you were in the decision. We all agreed to put a contribution to health. there are no taxes, we are falling in our heads, we can’t be populists. We have two years of maternity leave. In Germany, I would like it to be 100%.” said the prime minister.
Prime Minister Bolojan: PSD comes with AUR-type rhetoric, I don’t think it’s a solution
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan responded to the PSD, which announced that it would propose a series of amendments to the draft budget. Any proposal for additional spending should be treated with caution, said Bolojan, who compared the budget to a string that can break. He also said that the PSD has an AUR-type rhetoric without proposing solutions for spending.
The Prime Minister referred to the “new realities” caused by the war in the Middle East.
“This budget was drawn up when we didn’t have a war, and now we have phenomena that we cannot avoid: interest rate increases and fuel prices. There may be turmoil on interest rates. Any additional expenditure must be treated with caution. If the amendments are reasonable, they are not special problems. (…) What PSD did today is a political action”said Ilie Bolojan, at Digi 24.
The Head of Government also showed that “dif the amendments are in responsible terms, they are not special problems”.
“It’s like stretching a string,” said Bolojan about the budget, warning that it could break.
The prime minister also said that there are no magic solutions and accused the PSD of lying.
“Today, PSD took a political action (…) not once, I asked several times in the coalition where the sources are (…) PSD comes with AUR-type rhetoric, I don’t think it’s a solution that will bring results, and seriously we have to see where we have resources from. My call is for responsibility. (…)When we propose amendments, no matter what kind of proposals they are, we have to see where the resources come from. It’s not worth going back to the mistakes we made years ago pass”, stated Ilie Bolojan.
Băluță criticizes Bolojan at the presentation of the works on the passage from the Defenders of the Fatherland: “It is holding back the development of Romania”
The PSD leadership met on Sunday, at 4:00 p.m., at Vila Lac, within the party’s National Political Council, to discuss the budget, but also the support given to Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
PNL warned PSD that the amendments must be discussed within the coalition and assumed by the Government, not negotiated behind the scenes.
In the message addressed to Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, Sorin Grindeanu claims that the PSD entered the government to ensure stability and social protection, not to support austerity policies, which he considers unfair, and states that the party cannot accept an economic direction that would lead to the impoverishment of the population and the accentuation of social differences.
The PNL warned the social democrats not to support amendments to the budget that would involve an increase in spending without first being discussed in the coalition.
“As we experience major disruptions in fuel and financial markets as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, which may increase inflation and reduce economic growth, prudence and responsibility should guide us all,” PNL sent, through a press release.
At the same time, USR announced on Sunday evening that it will not submit and vote on amendments to the Budget Law and accuses PSD of “he’s playing with matches again.”
“The PSD is playing with matches again, although the deficit fire that Ciolacu started has not yet been extinguished. Threatening to vote on budget amendments that would increase public spending again is irresponsible. The fact that the PSD is openly flirting with a majority with the extremists to pass them shows that they do not care about Romanians worried about rising prices”USR sends in a press release.
