Reactions from PSD, PNL and USR after UDMR demanded the reduction of local taxes and fees / “This coalition denies its own measures”

The party led by Kelemen Hunor wants to reduce local taxes and fees even by up to 50%, an approach PSD sources say they would agree to. A voice from the PNL leadership criticizes these statements, however, and says that the measures were agreed upon in the coalition, and there can be no question of modifying some measures that have already produced effects.

• HotNews, together with other journalists, asked the Government on the press group for a point of view from the Prime Minister regarding the UDMR proposal. By the time the article was published, the institution had not responded.

UDMR President Kelemen Hunor told Digi24 on Tuesday evening that he already had a conversation with Ilie Bolojan about his proposal, and the Prime Minister asked him for “time to think”.

What the UDMR wants to happen with local taxes and fees

UDMR asks 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 quota have nowhere to go down”.

According to Kelemen Hunor, it is primarily about cars, because certain facilities for hybrid cars have been removed, and buildings for which the increase was much higher than expected.

PSD: “It's a rational idea”

Sources from the PSD leadership say that the UDMR idea is not a bad one, but that a discussion in the coalition is needed to concretely discuss the proposal of the party led by Kelemen Hunor.

“It is a rational idea that deserves to be discussed in the coalition,” PSD leadership sources told HotNews.

PSD's position comes in the context where, also in the coalition, the decision was made last year regarding the increase of local taxes. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan assumed responsibility in Parliament on September 1, 2025, with the support of the coalition parties, regarding these increases.

Harsh reaction from the PNL: “All these things were discussed in the coalition, where the UDMR has colleagues in the cabinet”

Sources from the PNL leadership, who did not want to be named, considering that there is still no clear decision of the party about what it will do in the context of the UDMR request, say that the request is a “surprising” one: “All these things were discussed in the coalition, where the UDMR has colleagues in the cabinet, on the administration, Mr. Cseke Attila, and the deputy prime minister, Mr. Tanczos Barna”.

“It's hard for me to believe that these people did not agree to the package of measures aimed at amending the tax code with implications for the administration and did not know the impact or did not communicate with Mr. Kelemen Hunor,” PNL sources told HotNews.

There have been situations like this before and when PSD criticized the introduction of CASS for mothers, veterans or the increase in the didactic norm, say the same sources from the party led by Ilie Bolojan: “Everything is not about one protest or another, but if this coalition denies its own measures. Then, each partner in the coalition must say whether it still makes sense to move forward or not.”

PNL: “The measures have already produced effects”

PNL representatives explain that if the governing parties abandon what they have agreed and adopted so far, it means that “we have cheated other categories or that all the measures taken will be restored to their previous state at some point”.

“It is hard to believe that adopted measures will be reversed, especially when they have produced their effects. Not to mention that this was an obligation assumed through the PNRR (increase in the amount of local taxes), which the previous government postponed because it was the election year 2024 and then 2025. So this Government had to and must take decisions that Romania assumed, especially when the same parties also agreed to it”, sources from PNL.

USR: “We're transferring some of today's debt to future generations”

The USR spokesman, Cristian Seidler, says that his party is open to discussions after the UDMR proposal, but that the political formation led by Kelemen Hunor should also have come up with a concrete solution regarding the budget deficit.

“I think that any proposal to decrease revenues or increase expenses must always be accompanied by a proposal on how it can be done, without increasing the deficit. The idea that we postpone and transfer some of today's debts to future generations has no way of working,” Cristian Seidler declared in a dialogue with HotNews.

He says that the USR still supports the idea that the budget recovery measures should have started with the limitation of state spending: “Here, it is true, we are still behind schedule with the citizens with the promised package 3 regarding the local and central public administration”.

“But we expect a serious analysis. Taking into account the level of support of the population, I absolutely agree with the proposal of an alternative. Just saying that this is not good, is a first step, but we must also see how it would be good to happen. Of course, with some calculations, if we are talking about a serious analysis, with some very concrete calculations, with figures that must be put on the table including by the Ministry of Finance. And the framework of the discussion must be in the coalition, because in coalition the initial decision was made, everyone supported the package”, explained the USR representative.

“Nowhere is there a festival of applause after the increase of local taxes and fees”

Seidler says that in the last meeting of the coalition, the topic of local taxes and fees was not among the topics discussed.

“Nowhere is there a festival of applause after the increase of local taxes and fees. We know very clearly that we also have this feedback from the territory. But the question is if we have decided something, if we decide to change that something, how do we do it? If the solution is not to spend more from the left pocket, but to spend more from the right pocket, overall we have not solved the problem. If you do not spend more from the left or the right, but spend from the pocket to my daughter, again we did not solve the problem, in fact”, explained the USR representative.

Cristian Seidler also added that a “serious” analysis is needed and the decision made by the coalition following it must be clearly explained to the people.