Florin Cîțu, former Prime Minister of Romania and Minister of Finance, said on Digi24’s Studio Politic show that President Klaus Iohannis, if he is a responsible president and if he wants Romania’s budget “not to be blown up”, must resubmit the Law pensions in Parliament. Cîțu also said that in addition to the filter of the head of state, there is also that of the European Commission, which, once it finds out the expenses for the payment of pensions, “will ask for tax increases and we will see how it goes from there”.
Asked if the last measures were bypassed by the head of state, Florin Cîțu said that: “Yes, but there were also public statements, in which the president said about the tax package that it was going in the right direction, although, when there was a right-wing government, the -I convinced them to support the measures to reduce taxes. Moreover, PNL voted twice against the law proposed by Olguța Vasilescu which did exactly the same thing. And that is what I told my colleagues yesterday in the party. We were responsible, we voted against it and we succeeded to win the MEPs and take 25% of the MEPs. There was the same message against us: “don’t mess with millions of pensioners”. What no one says is that even if the law didn’t pass, pensions would increase by 13.8% from January 1, on liberal legislation in force”.
Cîțu also stated that it is necessary for the Pensions Law, which passed the vote in the Chamber of Deputies, to be stopped.
“That’s why we are trying to stop this legislation now. President Klaus Iohannis, if he is a responsible president and if he wants Romania’s budget not to be blown up, he must resend the law to the Romanian Parliament.
A second filter is the European Commission, which will come. To adjust it will require tax increases and we’ll see how it goes from there. There are two important filters that help Romania.
It’s not about Ciolacu or Ciucă, it’s about Romania, which will have a financing problem in the future”, explained the former prime minister.
He also stated that he was opposed to all austerity measures and tax increases, but unfortunately, the truly liberal strand in the PNL does not have a critical mass, and that is why these initiatives were bypassed.
“On top of this disastrous situation, with an economic growth of 0.3% in the third quarter, you come and throw an unbearable expense. Today’s figures show us that pension expenses will reach 162 billion lei in 2024, which leads to a bizarre coincidence , exactly 9.4% of GDP, which is the PNRR limit.
I voted against all these measures in the Parliament, but also in the PNL.
The PNL is led by a majority, which voted to support the measures. I am not saying that the PNL is not part of the equation, and the narrow leadership will have to explain the results in the elections and what follows.
What I am saying is that the liberal strand or that group of true liberals, people who believe in economic freedom and the private sector, today in the PNL does not have a critical mass. That’s right,” Florin Cîțu said.
Editor: Andreea Smerea
