Vlad Voiculescu: Romania's budget is intensive care, and the Minister of the Environment has just broken 120 million lei for electric cars for mayors
Vlad Voiculescu, USR MEP. Inquam Photos / George Călin
USR Vice President Vlad Voiculescu accuses that the Minister of the Environment, Mircea Fechet, and the Administration of the Environment Fund (AFM) “broke” 120 million lei for electric cars for several hundred mayors in the country, while “Romania's budget is already intensive care”.
Vlad Voiculescu, a member of the team of parties negotiating the governance program, says that his feeling is that, apart from a few people from the Ministry of Public Finance and some of the Government who have directly held discussions with rating agencies and with the European Commission, “almost no one in the Government or society does not realize how serious the situation is.”
He explained that one third of the expenses of the Romanian state are from loans, “in the conditions in which, without European funds, Romania would almost no longer invest – it would have no place.”
“Today, the European Commission has put Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary in a group of major risks in terms of PNRR. The risk-to be clear-is to remain without billions of euros for free. Billions of euros! More investments already announced are in danger of being put on Hold,” the USR MEP warned.
The European Commission: Romania has not taken effective measures to reduce the budget deficit / risk is to suspend funds
About the negotiations of the parties with President Nicușor Dan regarding the budget reforms, Vlad Voiculescu said that “things are going hard”, and the prospects differ from party to party.
Voiculescu accuses that, under these conditions, Minister Fechet (PNL) and AFM (PSD) just “broke” this morning 120 million lei for electric cars for several hundred mayors: “24,000 euros in the cap.
He said that another 600 million lei will follow that will be spent for individuals. “This, while some propose tax increases, progressive rates and others.
Romania continues to face excessive imbalances, because its tax and current account deficits have increased, and the cost competitiveness was damaged in 2024, a document by the European Commission, published on Wednesday, shows. Following the Commission's recommendation, the EcoFin Council, made up of finance ministers from all EU states, is the one who will be able to decide, on June 28, whether or not the European funds for our country will be suspended. Romania is the only country in the European Union for which the Commission recommends the Council to make a decision.
