Summertime protests

Romania has lately seen a series of protests mounted by accountants and drivers

Mihai Pelin, 09.07.2024, 14:00

Accountants, economists and entrepreneurs on Monday took to the streets of Bucharest to draw attention to what they call ‘fiscal terror’, and measures endorsed without public talks but with a major impact upon the entire society.

The event called “A Chaos-free Fiscal Administration” was attended by people from all over Romania who braved the extremely hot temperatures to voice their discontent. Protesters took to Victoriei Square in downtown Bucharest, close to the government building, and their delegation held talks with the authorities. They showed their disapproval towards the authorities’ latest decisions on digitizing the fiscal administration. They denounced the lack of transparency and the fact that the introduction of several mechanisms such as the e-invoice, e-VAT or e-transport, would rather increase bureaucracy as there is a larger number of forms to fill in and a lot of redundant information. Furthermore, the accountants complained that the technical instruments made available by the Finance Ministry do not function properly.

The protesters also called for legislative predictability with a clear schedule for fiscal amendments, made public at least six months before implementation.

In turn, authorities say the new measures are meant to combat tax evasion. At the same time, Finance Minister, Marcel Bolos, pledged to step up talks with those directly affected.

A government’s decision allowing the police to suspend licenses of drivers who have refused to take an anti-doping test before getting the results of medical investigations has triggered discontent among drivers in Romania.

According to the organizers, ”Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and Interior Minister, Cătălin Predoiu, are jeopardizing the lives and careers of thousands of innocent drivers who run the risk of getting criminal files and losing their jobs because of false positive tests’.

Following protests, this government ordinance aimed at changing the Traffic Code in Romania, would be amended in the first session of the Executive. The Prime Minister has called on the Interior Minister to come up with new measures so that drivers should not be sanctioned on the basis of false positive drug tests on one hand and on the other hand the new measures should not compromise the fight against the use of banned substances.

The field drug-test kits used by the Romanian police are error-prone and known to have produced false-positive errors in many situations. Forensic experts have explained that a series of food or medical substances can influence the aforementioned tests. One suchlike substance is codeine, which is normally used in the treatment of coughing.

So, the Romanian authorities are in need of new, more effective drug-test kits, able to confirm a test in a couple of days. At present a test needs a couple of months to confirm and so need drivers to get back their suspended licenses.

(bill)