Nicolae Ciucă and Marcel Ciolacu accuse each other after the European Commission partially suspended the payment to Romania, because it did not fulfill the reforms contained in six milestones of the PNRR.
The two leaders accuse each other of not fulfilling the assumed reforms. Photo by Mediafax
Immediately after the European Commission’s announcement regarding the fact that Romania has not fulfilled the reforms assumed in the PNRR regarding corporate governance, transport investments and the fiscal regime of micro-enterprises, PLN leader Nicolae Ciucă sent an extremely harsh message to Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, whom he accused that, together with the party he leads, he is mainly responsible for this situation.
“I saw the European Commission’s response to payment request number 3 from the PNRR. What the Commission announced today is not at all similar to what Mr. Ciolacu told us publicly about the risk of losing money from the PNRR.
The worst part is that this news hits us just when we needed to know how to project the budget for the year 2025.
I ask Mr. Ciolacu to urgently explain what he will do so that Romania does not lose the approximately 1.1 billion euros from the PNRR.
The Prime Minister has the responsibility to present a very clear plan on how we meet the outstanding milestones in the PNRR.
Since I know the PSD and Mr. Ciolacu, I would like him not to postpone the necessary measures in order not to lose the European money, as was the understanding when we had a dialogue”, wrote Nicolae Ciucă on his Facebook account.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu’s reply did not take long to appear, he reminded Nicolae Ciucă that the problems in the companies active in the energy field were taken over from the former PNL minister Virgil Popescu, and as regards the threshold for micro-enterprises, he was established at the time when Florin Cîţu was prime minister, also from the PNL. Under these conditions, the PSD leader asks Nicolae Ciucă to take responsibility for all these decisions that have led to a failure regarding the observance of reforms in the respective fields.
“Mr. Ciucă, for the first time I am embarrassed to answer you. This opposition circus does not help anyone. And neither you!
Romanians expect something else from a statesman. First of all, they are waiting for acceptance. And all that the Commission invoked are things that happened during your mandate.
Fortunately, I work very well with Mr. Minister Burduja and we will correct all the misfortunes done in the energy companies by former minister Virgil Popescu, your colleague.
I work very well with the Minister of Transport and you may have noticed that today another colleague of yours has finally resigned from Metrorex.
I work very well with the PNL-led SGG and we will resume the procedures at AMEPIP as soon as possible.
I work very well with everyone, Mr. Ciucă, so that we can correct what went wrong and not lose a single euro from the PNRR.
There is only one thing left, which we must decide together in the Coalition: what is the best decision for the small entrepreneurs, whom you claim to support.
We need a clear political decision on the threshold for micro-enterprises. The one put in the PNRR by the right-wing government led by the president of the PNL at that time – Mr. How much!
People need to know: we have a choice between lowering the threshold for micro-enterprises and taking around 300 million euros or giving up the money and keeping the current amount of 500 thousand euros.
Whether you want it or not, Mr. Ciucă: you are part of the decision! Take it upon yourselfMarcel Ciolacu sent to the PNL leader.
As “The Truth”
already informed you, within a month, the Government must formulate an answer regarding the state of the reforms and, if the European Commission maintains the same decision, Romania has 6 months to solve its problem, before losing the money.
