Romania’s PM Ciuca still hopes to have 2022 Budget Law passed by end of year

The Romanian Government plans to publish the 2022 budget planning draft on Friday, December 17, so that it can be approved by the Executive quickly and sent to the Parliament on Monday, December 20.

Prime minister Nicolae Ciuca reportedly told ruling coalition members on the evening of December 13 that the Government must have a budget enacted by the end of the year for reasons related to the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Program (PNRR), Hotnews.ro reported.

In his turn, Deputy prime minister Sorin Grindeanu said that “there is a question mark regarding the approval of the state budget for 2022 until the end of the year.”

The minister of finance, Adrian Caciu, in his turn assured that the budget for 2022 will not involve new taxes, and any change in the fiscal regime will be made predictably and only following a dialogue with the business environment.

The new Government formed by the Liberals (PNL) but controlled by the Social Democrats (PSD) is gradually realising that the reforms linked to the Resilience Facility and the commitments implied by the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) leave little fiscal room for unplanned social expenditures. After initially wanting to “renegotiate” then “optimise” the PNRR, the Social Democrats now seek ways to accommodate the expenditures on their agenda.

The Government will propagate for another year the pensions for local elected officials such as mayors and will freeze the benefits disbursed to central officials while at the same time attempting to increase the incomes of the employees in health and education, according to Adevarul daily.

(Photo source: Gov.ro)