The local election on Sunday has predictably rattled the political
\nenvironment in Romania. The country’s Parliament, numerically dominated by the
\nleft, has endorsed a series of budget adjustments completely different from the
\nscheme proposed by the Liberal Executive. The Social-Democrats and their
\ntraditional or occasional allies ALDE and UDMR respectively, have imposed a 40%
\nraise in the pension point against the 12% increase proposed by the government.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The MPs have also voted in favour of raising the teachers’ wages
\nand for earmarking additional sums to local authorities. Relying on a
\nParliament support of only 22%, the Liberal government has shortly announced that
\nit will use all the mechanisms available to prevent the law from coming into
\neffect. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Liberals believe that for the time being the economy cannot
\nsupport such a measure, which would throw Romania into payment default.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Here is Romania’s Prime Minister Ludovic Orban.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ludovic Orban: The government we are leading
\nis going to challenge the law at the Constitutional Court. We are also not
\ngoing to accept under any circumstances these ungrounded raises as we cannot
\naccept that the country’s future is put between brackets by some irresponsible
\npeople who are only making fun of Romania. We are going to use all the
\nConstitutional and legal leverages to prevent this economic aberration from coming
\ninto effect.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Social-Democrats, who have always relied on the pensioners’
\nvotes, say there is enough money to implement the aforementioned measures.
\nAlfred Simonis, the PSD leader in the Chamber of Deputies, has accused the
\nLiberals and their political patron, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis of
\nhaving initially supported the pensions rise. He has also blamed the government
\nfor having used the crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to
\nwaste public money. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alfred Simonis: Before coming to power,
\nyou, your government and the president of Romania said that you supported and were
\ngoing to implement this law. Once in power, you have changed your mind. The
\npeople you are calling socially-assisted are probably going to live a couple of
\nmonths, or years more. Think of that when you are going to cut the welfare of
\nthese people. Put an end to the illegal money-making schemes, cut the
\nunjustified expenses, and you are going to have enough money.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Leaving aside the various maneuvers on the political stage in
\nRomania, the country’s Central Bank has cautioned that a 40% rise in pensions would
\nlead to an increase in the budget deficit of 11% of the GDP. Instead of a coordinated correction spanning
\nseveral years, we would be forced to a disordered correction, which could take
\na heavy economic and social toll, officials with the bank have explained.
\nEmployers’ associations and business people alike believe that unsustainable
\nbudget expenses, out of pure election reasons, can put Romania’s economy at
\nhigh risk. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(tr. bill)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parliament in Bucharest has endorsed budget adjustments promoted by the Social-Democratic opposition and sharply criticized by the Liberal government<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":82472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[38965,31693,31525,32366,40064],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-86709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-alfred","tag-gdp","tag-orban","tag-pensions","tag-simonis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n