Maintaining VAT was a condition set by Nicușor Dan when forming the government: “We couldn't cause a scandal”

The President of Romania stated that he explicitly imposed on the Government to maintain the VAT rate at 19%, but chose not to trigger a political crisis after the Executive decided to increase it to 21%. The head of state made these clarifications during the show “40 questions with Denise Rifai”, being asked about the commitment assumed in the electoral campaign regarding the maintenance of VAT and whether he considers himself betrayed by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.

PHOTO: AFP

The president claimed that, in his opinion, the budget deficit could be reduced without increasing the VAT, warning of the direct impact on the population.

“I believe that on the big issues there is good faith from each of the parties and implicitly from the leaders of the parties that are involved in this coalition. When I made the promise and when I appointed the prime minister, you remember that it was about a month between assuming the mandate and appointing the government, in that month I talked with a lot of people from the state structures, from the Ministry of Finance, from different places where the money was spent, from the Ministry of Funds, and I came up with a scheme, a national budget structure with some measures that, in my opinion, could reduce the deficit without increasing the VAT, because the VAT increase meant an increase in prices and a decrease of about 10% in the purchasing power of Romanians, which is very important”said Nicușor Dan.

The head of state explained that the maintenance of VAT was a clear condition imposed at the time of the formation of the Government, even if this decision does not directly fall within its constitutional powers. However, the Executive subsequently backtracked on the commitment.

“That was the condition because I was asked then how I can impose this, although it is not an executive assignment, and I said by imposing on the government, and that's what I did when the government was formed, my condition was not to increase the VAT. A week or ten days later, the government said that it could not be otherwise. Under the conditions that Romania was then, I could not make a scandal out of it. In short, that was it. I believe that each of the parties and party leaders work with good faith, and people will judge us all”, the president of Romania also declared.

The statements come in the context of criticism related to the VAT increase and the impact of this measure on the standard of living, with the president emphasizing that he chose political stability at the expense of an open conflict with the Government.