After the disagreements regarding the calendar of the presidential elections, the presidents of PNL and PSD, Nicolae Ciucă and Marcel Ciolacu, met on Monday, July 22, to address economic issues. Before the meeting, which takes place on Monday afternoon, both leaders went to the Patriarchal Cathedral.
Patriarch Daniel turned 73 years old. Photo Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea (Archive)
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the leader of the National Liberal Party, Nicolae Ciucă, took part on Monday, July 22, in a service and a reception on the occasion of the 73rd birthday of Patriarch Daniel.
According to the Basilica news agency, starting at 12.00, at the Palace of the Patriarchate there was “a short anniversary moment during which congratulatory messages will be presented from the central and local State authorities, as well as from other public institutions“.
According to the same source, they took part in the event “hierarchs of the Holy Synod, representatives of the central and local State authorities, personalities of Romanian public life, members of the Permanent Council of the National Church Council and the Diocesan Council of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, clergy and laity“.
Also, during the day, starting at 16:00, there is a meeting of the Coalition. Economic issues are on the agenda, according to political sources quoted by Antena 3 CNN.
In addition, on the same day, but during the morning, the Minister of Finance, Marcel Boloș, and the PSD AND PNL leaders, Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciucă, held a discussion at the Government.
These talks occur in the context in which the Romanian Government is making efforts to get the European Commission to agree to a 7-year grace period for reducing the budget deficit below 7%.
Agreement with the European Commission to reduce the budget deficit
In the same vein, the president of the Social Democratic Party, Marcel Ciolacu, announced on Tuesday, July 16, that he will sign an agreement with the European Commission in order to reduce the budget deficit below 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) within 7 years. Currently, according to official data from the European Commission, the country’s budget deficit is estimated at 6.9% of GDP in 2024.
“First of all, we had an agreement with the European Commission for three years, from a 9.2% deficit, historically, the largest in Europe, unimaginable for any Government, and we assumed that within three years we would reach 3%, in a year in which access to European funds was huge, in which you closed a past financial year, 2016 – 2020, where you had the obligation to come with a 15% financing, you had the current financial year, which had started after a years to have mature projects and you had the investments from PNRR. (…) How can you assume, at the moment of Romania’s most important development, a deficit of 3%? Really, what the Commission told us and we respected and we will respect this year too – under no circumstances should we have a consumption deficit. (…) We reached a dialogue with the Commission and, normally, with the next Commission we will initial the agreement to have for seven years the entry into the deficit assumed from Maastricht of 3%, with a 0.74% annual decrease. This shows that no one wants to raise any taxes or fees“, said the prime minister, when asked if taxes will increase next year and what will happen to the budget deficit.
The EU executive will present recommendations to exit the excessive deficit procedure, the strategy advanced by Romania consists of a seven-year adjustment, during which at least the reforms provided for in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan must be carried out, said the Minister of Finance, Marcel Boloș .
