According to the UDMR, even the USR does not agree with the measure regarding the non-payment of the first day of sick leave / Fritz, however, has a different position regarding taxes compared to Kelemen Hunor

The leader of the USR, Dominic Fritz, says that he does not agree with the government's decision that the first day of leave will no longer be paid to employees and he was surprised by its introduction. His reaction came after his coalition colleague, UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor, argued that the Executive must return to this measure.

“We are not very happy with this measure either, there are many people who depend on it. Frauds may not be fixed where someone takes a day off, but where someone takes a very long time. There was a discussion at one point and, indeed, it was not a very clear conclusion either from our point of view. My colleagues from the USR were also surprised and here is something we have to analyze,” said Fritz on Wednesday, in an interview with the News Pro TV.

Asked if the decision was taken “over the head” of the leaders of the governing coalition, Dominic Fritz replied: “It was a discussion where everyone came away with a different idea of ​​what the conclusion was. I don't want to make accusations, but it is definitely a measure that we will have to discuss.”

“I think we can improve things and partly in the way of working (within the coalition, no). But we can't be hypocrites either, and there are certain measures that have both advantages and disadvantages, which are controversial, which at some point we have to test. And yes, if they are not good, of course I think it is obvious that we must also be able to correct them,” added the USR leader.

The government decided, through an Emergency Ordinance approved in the last meeting last year, that the first day of sick leave for an episode of illness will no longer be paid. The measure targets medical leaves that will be issued between February 1, 2026 and December 31, 2027, and the Minister of Health claimed, at the time, in a statement to HotNews, that the goal is to “discourage fictitious leaves.”

What Kelemen Hunor said

The president of UDMR, Kelemen Hunor, claimed, on Wednesday, in an interview given to the same television station, that the Government must abandon the decision regarding the non-payment of the first day of medical leave.

“Something should also happen with the first day of unpaid sick leave. Again, I don't know where it came from, honestly. I don't want to say… But for sick people, the first day of sick leave must be paid, the solution must be found,” said Kelemen Hunor.

“They are not extraordinarily big things, they are not sophisticated things. So they can be adjusted very, very quickly,” the UDMR leader added.

USR's position on the reduction of local taxes

Dominic Fritz also said on Wednesday that he does not agree with the UDMR's proposal to lower local taxes and fees.

The USR leader said that the tax increase was a decision taken by the government led by Ilie Bolojan, of which the UDMR is also a part, but he pointed out that in his opinion, “we cannot now solve a problem on one side, if by doing so we create other problems”.

“Of course everyone, in theory, wants us to lower taxes. The fact that taxes, local taxes have increased so suddenly this year is primarily due to the cowardice of previous governments, not to adapt these taxes and local taxes to reality. That's why it was now a very big leap. But it was a decision that we finally took as a government, which certainly produced some difficult effects for many citizens in this country. We just cannot now let's solve a problem on the one hand, if with that we create other problems. And the truth is that if we back off with this decision, someone has to explain how else to solve the financial and budget problems that this country has,” Fritz also said in the interview with Pro TV News.

“What we, from the USR, will never agree to is solving these problems on the backs of the next generation. That is, we cannot increase the deficit, on the contrary, we have an extremely acute, moral and political obligation to decrease the massive deficit. And, precisely for this reason, any proposal that, I don't know, either decreases our income or increases our expenses, must also come with a proposal. How do we do this without increasing the deficit?”, added the USR leader.

“Fundamentally, there is a very simple rule in the fiscal laws, until the end of the year you set the fees and taxes for the next year. I don't think this back-and-forth is fair to the citizens, to the companies, we must have predictability. But, once again, I am ready to listen to the arguments (of colleagues from the UDMR regarding the reduction of taxes, no). Why is a decision made, now, suddenly no longer good? But the arguments must be based on some numbers. Where to will the money come, if we give it back now?”, said Fritz.

The leader of UDMR, Kelemen Hunor, stated, on Tuesday evening, that the Government should return to the decision regarding the increases in local taxes and fees by reducing them by up to 50%, within the limits set by the Executive.

UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor had said, on Digi24, that he had already had a conversation with Ilie Bolojan about his proposal, and the prime minister had asked him for “time to think”.

Moreover, the UDMR asked the governing coalition that in the case of local taxes and fees there should be a series of changes: “Between the lower and upper limit requested by the Government, the mayors should have the opportunity, until the budget is approved, to return to the decision and give a reduction of up to 50%. Those who are the minimum rate have nowhere to go down”.

Answer also from Bolojan

On Wednesday, in the press conference held at the Cotroceni Palace, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan referred to the request made by Kelemen Hunor regarding the correction of some measures taken by the Government.

“I don't see a problem to have different proposals, to discuss them, even if, at a given moment, you can have different approaches. When you have several parties in the coalition, you inevitably have divergent points of view, but everything you do matters, the approach matters and, from this point of view, I have nothing to reproach Mr. Kelemen Hunor”, said the Prime Minister.

Bolojan appreciated, however, that the municipalities should be allowed to return to the minimum level of taxes, provided that they do not fall below the threshold provided by law.

“The government has set a minimum level for the taxation of cars, for example. Some municipalities, taking into account the previous level of taxation or setting a higher increase, have reached the situation where the set level is higher than the minimum set by the government law. Due to the discussions that have arisen in the public space, some municipalities want to reduce the current level of taxes, on cars, for example, to the minimum level set by law. The current legislation does not allow them to do this. So it allowed them to increase more more than the minimum level, but does not allow them to decrease”, explained the prime minister.

“We can analyze to what extent we can bring this correction through legislation (…) Of course, we should do this in the shortest possible time, before the approval of the budget, in such a way that, before the approval of the local budgets, all these things are done. Anyway, as you know, this year was a special year, from the point of view of taxes, because they were adopted very late due to the challenge in the Constitutional Court, and therefore there was no time for explanations, clarifications. You remember what happened when some town halls communicated erroneous data because all the databases were not updated and it took two, three weeks for things to stabilize,'' the head of government said.

Ilie Bolojan stated that he discussed these issues with the UDMR leader during the Wednesday. “The answer cannot be given very simply, because the problem of property taxes is quite complex and has a wide range of application, but I would like to make a few clarifications. As you know, Romania is committed to bringing property taxes to a higher level, in such a way that the benchmark is the market price of these homes, of course, each locality having a margin to apply one percentage or another, something that should apply from the end of this year. So we still have to work on this scheme, we are in an intermediate formula”, added the prime minister.