The coalition can work better, but “for that we should respect each other more”, says Bolojan

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan declared himself convinced on Wednesday that the current government coalition “could work much better if we respected each other”, in the context of repeated criticism from the governing partner PSD, but also of the UDMR's request to reduce local taxes and fees.

“I don't think I should give marks, but I am convinced that it could work much better if we respected each other, if we respected the government program. I tried not to potentiate the conflicts. I think we could improve these things because otherwise it is hard to believe that we will win the trust of the citizens. In discussions with financiers, an element that comes up for discussion is stability,” said the head of government, in his first press conference held this year at the Palace Victory.

The party led by Sorin Grindeanu conditions the adoption of the reform in the local and central administration on the approval of the package of economic recovery measures that the PSD proposed last year.

More recently, the UDMR also asked Bolojan to reconsider the decision to increase local taxes and fees, although they increased following the agreement in the governing coalition.

“I believe that in this period and in the following period, the more the political agreements are respected, regardless of the person of the prime minister, one or the other, the better the relations between the parties, the greater the responsibility with which we exercise these political or governmental positions, the better Romania's perspective is and we have a great responsibility, each of us, for this situation,” the prime minister also declared.

“I have nothing to reproach Kelemen Hunor”

Bolojan also referred to the request made by UDMR leader 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, in Wednesday's conference, 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.

In order to allow such changes at the level of local administrations, however, legislative changes are necessary, he said.

“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.

According to it, local governments should be allowed to raise and then lower taxes, depending on local policies, but Bolojan emphasized that any decrease cannot fall below the minimum ceiling set by law.

“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 or three weeks for things to stabilize', the head of the government said, as quoted by Agerpres.

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”, the prime minister also said.

UDMR's position on the reduction of local taxes and fees

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”.

On Wednesday, Kelemen Hunor came up with clarifications, showing that with regard to a reduction of taxes and fees, local authorities should be left to decide, depending on the possibilities, within the established limits, a reduction of up to 50% of the taxes they approved in December 2025.

“Yesterday morning, before we went public, we said what our intention was. I spoke once before and I will also meet personally with the prime minister. I said a return, in the sense of letting the local authorities between the lower and upper limits to give depending on the possibilities a reduction of up to 50% to the taxes that they approved in December, because the local authorities decide. That was the idea. And, from this point of view, I think that nobody is absurd, can go on this option, especially since last week the Government issued an emergency order for those in the Delta and the Western Mountains, where such a decision can be made. That was our request, that was our proposal, because there are really serious issues here, not necessarily Of course, I've seen a lot of numbers these days. Blocks built in the 60s, so not very recently, the tax increase of 300%, not 80%, 300%. So, from this point of view, you have to admit that you're wrong, it's not considered a sign of weakness, but a sign of maturity and responsibility”, said the UDMR leader, at the Parliament.

Asked if the governing coalition will break if the prime minister does not want to return to lower taxes, Kelemen Hunor replied: “I don't speculate until I talk to the prime minister. He said yesterday when we spoke on the phone that he had meetings, we didn't manage to see each other, that he was asking for a break to talk to those from Finance. (…) At the moment he has the support of the coalition.”