Radio România Internațional

Tag: Social-Democrat Opposition

  • The 2021 budget under debate

    The 2021 budget under debate

    Lawmakers in Bucharest want to
    adopt the 2021 budget law within less than a week. The law was submitted to
    Parliament for debate last week, in addition to other related laws, including
    an emergency decree on cutting holiday vouchers for public sector employees and
    capping pensions at the level reported last year. The context isn’t great,
    considering the pandemic has pushed Romania into an excessive deficit
    procedure, while the healthcare system continues to eat up considerable funds.
    Lawmakers also need to make sure the business sector is not affected too much.
    The Government says the budget law will allow for a multiannual approach to
    reforms and public finance, by reducing the budget deficit gradually, from
    7.16% to 3.4% in 2024. The law is focused on investment, which will get 5.5% of
    the GDP, the largest allocation so far. The law also enjoys the support of the
    European Commission, which is due to disburse a large amount of funds to
    Romania devoted to reforms and investments, Prime Minister Florin Cîțu has
    said. The Prime Minister expects results from the ministries that asked for
    larger budgets than in previous years.


    We will be using mid-term
    indicators to make an assessment of the budget execution. The same happened in
    previous years, with sectors getting large funds and failing the execute their
    budget. We will also be have a discussion at the end of the first half of the
    year, and some Ministers might leave. We agreed to increase the budget, we have
    a large number of expenses to support, but I would also like to see more
    results. I want to see reforms at the level of state-owned enterprises.


    The Social-Democrats in opposition
    have accused the Government of poor allocation of funds this year. They claim
    the funds stipulated in the law will cover just the first nine months, and that
    additional taxes will be introduced. Social-Democrat Senator Radu Oprea said
    his party intends to vote against the law in Parliament, and will advance
    amendments that will offer solutions for economic recovery and increasing
    living standards, while observing the set budget deficit target. According to
    the European Commission’s economic forecast published last week, Romania’s
    economy will recover in 2021 after shrinking by 5% in 2020. The engine for
    growth this year will be private consumption and investment, determining a 3.8%
    growth of the GDP in 2021 and a 4% growth rate in 2022. The Commission also
    expects exports to recover against the backdrop of an improvement in the performance
    of the main economic operators. (V. Palcu)

  • Political topics under debate

    Political topics under debate

    During the Social-Democratic
    Government’s term in office, the Liberals in opposition advanced a bill to
    double children’s allowances. Subsequently, the Social-Democrats were removed
    from office, not without doubling these allowances beforehand. This highly
    populist measure risks destabilizing an already overburdened budget, based on a
    deficit of 3%, the maximum accepted at EU level. Ludovic Orban’s Cabinet
    announced that, although ratified by the president, the law doubling children’s
    allowances will take effect in July at the earliest, with the first budget
    adjustment. Labor Minister Violeta Alexandru:


    Let’s be very clear – we
    completely understand the need to double children’s allowances. Still, since
    the law was passed after we had finalized the budget for 2020, we need to find
    the resources that can cover this increase, which is unsustainable right now.


    The Social-Democrats have accused
    the Liberal Government of irresponsibility and lack of professionalism. In an
    attempt to boost their image in an election year, the Social-Democrats claim
    one solution to make more funds available for the doubling of children’s
    allowances would be to repeal the law on special pensions. Interim
    Social-Democrat leader and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marcel Ciolacu said
    Parliament would convene in an extraordinary sitting at the end of January to
    debate the draft law on repealing special pensions, with the exception of
    military and law enforcement. All political parties are now questioning special
    pensions benefiting certain categories of public employees, mainly magistrates,
    which are outrageously high compared to normal pension, considering they shun
    the principle of fair contribution. The same parties however introduced the
    special pensions, whenever international rules and regulations so demanded or
    the measure would boost their election scores. Another bone of contention
    between power and opposition right now revolves over the Liberals’ intention to
    modify the election law, thus reintroducing the organization of local elections
    in two separate rounds. Marcel Ciolacu said he would send a letter to European
    bodies informing them of the Liberals’ intention to amend the election legislation
    months before the local elections are scheduled to take place, which goes against
    recommendations. The Social-Democrats believe such an undertaking would affect
    credibility in Romanian democracy and the rule of law. The Social-Democrats said
    they would file a no-confidence motion if the Government will assume
    responsibility in Parliament over the modified election law. Social-Democrat
    leader Marcel Ciolacu:


    You have no right whatsoever in a
    democratic and European state to modify the election law two or three months
    before the election is due. This has never happened in the history of Romania
    and we hope it won’t happen now either.


    A potential demise of the Orban
    Cabinet would trigger early elections, a scenario that favors the Liberals and
    less so the Social-Democrats, which are still trying to recover from the
    repeated blows they were dealt in 2019.