The budget bill returns to Parliament

The president of Romania is to send the state budget bill back to Parliament

Roxana Vasile, 07.03.2019, 13:25

Over the course of two years,
president Klaus Iohannis has submitted 58 challenges to the Constitutional
Court, which, according to the Social Democratic Party, the main force in the
ruling coalition, has beaten all records. The statistics reflect in fact the
battle between the right-leaning president, who will be seeking a second term,
and the Social Democrats, who are in government together with the Alliance of
Liberals and Democrats. The president’s latest challenge refers to the 2019
budget bill, which the Constitutional Court declared as constitutional on
Wednesday. Refusing to comment on the Court’s decision, president Iohannis
announced however his intention to return the bill, which he describes as
shameful, to Parliament:

The 2019 budget is based
on a fantasy and there are no guarantees as to its implementation, as also
pointed out by the European institutions and other international institutions. This
budget bill places in doubt the compliance with the international treaties
Romania is part of, and, unfortunately, also the legislation in the field. This
year’s budget is designed to serve, first and foremost, the political interests
of a small group.

The parliamentary opposition,
represented mainly by the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union,
shares the president’s views. Here is the Liberal leader, Ludovic Orban:

This budget, which in its
current form is a budget of stagnation, of underdevelopment, and which seeks
nothing but to serve the perverse electoral objectives of the government
majority formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats, can be improved and help
reach objectives that would benefit all Romanians.

Deceptive, political and
irresponsible; this is how the ruling coalition has described the move to send
the budget bill back to Parliament. It is obvious that president Iohannis is
only interested in winning another term and does things that endanger Romania’s
image and macroeconomic indicators. To say that the country is facing an
economic disaster while official figures say the opposite, shows lack of
responsibility and respect for truth. Blocking the government has become his
main concern, prime minister Viorica Dancila has said.

The deputy speaker of
the Chamber of Deputies Florin Iordache, speaking on behalf of the Social
Democrats, says they will send the bill to the president to sign as it was
initially passed by Parliament, without making any further changes:

To block Romania’s budget
just because you’re on election campaign is not right. Under these
circumstances, we will send the bill back to him in its current version, that
is after being analysed in the budget committees and voted on by Parliament to
reconfirm the majority that voted for the bill.

According to the Social Democratic
Party, the 2019 budget bill ensures the necessary resources for all important
economic sectors.