The Country’s Supreme Defence Council has blocked the Government’s budget adjustment bill.
Tuesday's meeting of the country's Supreme Defence Council was called off again, with President Klaus Iohannis saying the ruling coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, must come up with a new draft law on the budget adjustment. Previously, Council members disagreed over giving the go-ahead for this bill, condemning the Government's plans to curb the funding of certain institutions operating in the field of national defence, a point the president himself has picked up on. Klaus Iohannis finds it inadmissible that Romania's security should be endangered, considering the Government's purported adjustment is meant to be positive. Klaus Iohannis:
"By calling off the meeting, I have allowed the Government to come up with a new adjustment bill, to discard any budget cuts in the field of national security, which serve only as political shenanigans. As soon as the situation is corrected, the Council will be able to give its approval."
The President had decided to call a meeting of the country's Supreme Defence Council after the Government said the President was blocking the first budget adjustment of the year, which has to do with salary rights, social welfare spending, measures to help combat the African swine fever virus as well as settling Romania's contribution to the EU budget. The Social Democrat Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici said there was no legal basis for calling off the Council meeting and the Government has an obligation to demand an approval. Teodorovici says the president's decision will delay the payment of salaries in certain institutions and will block investments and compensations paid to farmers affected by the African swine fever virus. Eugden Teodorovici.
"The adjustment provides additional sums of money to ensure pig farmers are compensated for their losses. Additionally, the procurement of disinfectants, mobile incinerators, the transport of the culled animals and other related activities that require immediate action will be affected. In the agriculture sector, delays will be reported in terms of ensuring the funding of the harvesting season and investment in husbandry regarding poultry and other farm animals."
Some voices within the Social Democratic Party claim the president has already started his campaign for the presidential election next year, in a desperate attempt to secure a second term in office. The President responded that the Government could have already implemented the budget adjustment by discarding any measures affecting national security. Klaus Iohannis went on to say the budget conceived by the Social Democrats is reckless and impossible to implement. Some pundits agree with the president, arguing that the ruling coalition is trying to settle its debts towards the various parties that have helped them win a landslide victory in the legislative election of 2016.
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