During the intense negotiations for the budget, USR experienced a moment of nervous breakdown, and Cristian Ghinea did not shy away from criticizing the government for the way the figures were presented and for the unfulfilled promises.
Cristian Ghinea. Photo: Eduard Enea
In a press statement, Ghinea said that during a meeting with Government representatives, including the Minister of Finance, Marcel Boloș, a discussion took place “under the sign of falsehood and inaccuracy“.
“I went to the government for a meeting with the presidents of the pro-European parties, for a discussion related to the budget. We have waited a long time for this moment of truth, but the government has completely missed this moment. In the negotiating group on the program of government, we constantly discussed the budget and received firm promises from the secretaries of state in the Ministry of Finance that we will receive the draft budget for next year. Our expectations were in vain because we did not receive anything on Friday and Saturday and the government did not present any clear draft of the budget“, declared Ghinea.
The USR leader added that the government tried to “dress up” the figures in a manner that did not reflect the country’s financial reality. “Mr BOLOŞ he came and threw out some numbers that we can’t trust. These are undervalued compared to the actual expenses. In September, the budget deficit was forecast at 6.9%. In October, after negotiations with the European Commission, the deficit reached 7.9%. Now in December we are talking about a deficit of 8.58%. It is a true Black and White with budget figures. We cannot trust these figures, which are presented from some sheets without real clarity“, continued Ghinea.
Another criticism concerned the consultation and communication process regarding the budget execution, Ghinea noting that until this moment no clear data for November had been presented. “We still don’t know the budget execution in November. The meeting only talked about tax reforms, but I did not clearly understand what was actually wanted. What kind of tax reforms can we expect? Or rather, are we talking about tax increases? We asked to clarify this, but we did not receive concrete answers”said Ghinea, having a rather nervous speech.
The USR leader also added that the government is moving towards a dangerous fiscal policy that could lead to tax increases rather than real reform. “After a lot of insistence from us, they presented some possible increases of taxes. We find this unacceptable. If there is no real tax reform, just a tax increase, then we are talking about no change, just a continuation of lying government“, Ghinea said, accusing the government of manipulation.
Ghinea says the government included revenues from the digitization sector that had no real basis. “A 10.5 billion lei budget line for digitization revenues was included in the state budget. This is nonsense, there is no digitization revenue to cover such an amount. It was an attempt to trim the budget, but now, in the draft put up for consultation on December 2, that line has been cut. So the government lied”said Ghinea, emphasizing the inconsistency and lack of transparency in the approach to the budget.
Cristian Ghinea concluded with a firm request addressed to Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu: “We officially ask Mr. Ciolacu to make public the information note regarding the government’s requirements regarding the budget and the financial situation of the country. It is unacceptable for this information to be secret. The government must be transparent with the citizens and stop hiding the financial reality. The first step towards honesty would be to publish this information note”, declared Ghinea, emphasizing that “there is no more fiscal space to continue with this kind of government.”
