The Parliament in Bucharest has a tense week ahead,
\ndominated by the government’s bill on the adjustment of this year’s budget. The
\nbill has already been amended in Parliament’s committees by the Social
\nDemocrats in opposition so as to increase spending. The Liberals, who form a minority
\ngovernment, threaten to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court but not
\nbefore trying to work with the other parties in Parliament to block the Social
\nDemocrats’ amendments. The latter usually have a majority in Parliament, but
\nhave recently lost some of their MPs, so the result of the vote is unpredictable.
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The most important amendment to the budget adjustment bill
\nrefers to eliminating an article on increasing pensions by only 14% as of 1st
\nSeptember. If the amended bill passes in Parliament, pensions will go up by 40%
\ninstead. The committees have also eliminated a government’s amendment postponing
\nfor next year an increase in teachers’ wages so the increase may come into
\nforce as of 1st September this year. Another amendment aims to cap
\nRomania’s borrowing from 44 to 40% by the end of the year. Prime minister
\nLudovic Orban has warned that the budget cannot possibly sustain the amendments
\nproposed by the Social Democratic Party:<\/p>\n
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What has happened in the budget and finance committee
\nis a crime against the Romanian economy, with the country risking of going into
\ndefault. We will put up a fight in the two joint chambers to send the report
\nback to the budget and finance committee. I’m convinced that with the
\ncooperation of the other political parties, we will manage to do so.<\/p>\n
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The prime minister has explained that the Social Democrat’s
\nproposals would lead to additional spending of 6.3% of the GDP both this year
\nand the next, which cannot be sustained. We will use all constitutional and
\nlegal means at our disposal, including a new adjustment, the prime minister
\nemphasised. The centre-right Save Romania Union has also warned that the Social
\nDemocratic Party is sending the country’s budget into chaos through its proposed
\namendments. The Social Democrats wish to pass yet another bill to grant a bonus
\nto teachers for resuming teaching amid a pandemic. Marcel Ciolacu, the president
\nof the Social Democratic Party:<\/p>\n
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Teachers are in the front line right now, just like
\ndoctors. We’re proposing a bonus of 500 euros, just like that for doctors. The
\nbill will be received on Tuesday by the Chamber of Deputies and will be put to
\na final vote, from which it will be submitted for promulgation.<\/p>\n
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\nThe
\nSocial Democrats say the money for all this spending will be found later
\nthrough measures the government can take in the future. (CM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parliament to debate budget adjustment bill amid controversy generated by opposition’s amendments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":82385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[33931,29547],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-86692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-adjustment","tag-budget"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n