The good multinational: Romanian SocDem leader praises retailer for raising salaries

German supermarket chain Lidl, one of the biggest retailers in Romania, plans to hire some 500 people this year as part of its expansion plan. The company will also increase the workers’ salaries again this year, according to Ziarul Financiar. The news hasn’t passed unnoticed by politicians. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea, who has criticized multinationals for their alleged involvement in supporting the recent anti-government protests in Romania, says Lidl is an example to be followed by all international companies operating in the country. “Congratulations! An example for all multinationals that operate in #Romania!” Dragnea wrote on his Facebook page. “Lidl answers to the facilities provided by the Romanian state not only by increasing its profits, but also by increasing salaries and creating over 500 new #jobs. That’s the way to do it!” Dragnea recently said that some multinationals have supported the protests against a now repealed Government ordinance that changed the Criminal Code by sending their employees to the demonstrations. PSD Senator Adrian Tutuianu, the head of the Parliament’s committee that monitors the activity of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), also spoke about the multinationals’ alleged involvement in supporting and financing the protests against the Sorin Grindeanu cabinet. He even asked the SRI to investigate if any multinationals were involved in the protests. He claimed that some multinationals were unhappy with the changes to be made to the Tax Code, which involved new ways of taxing the corporate profits. Senator Niculae Badalau, the executive president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) also said recently that a team of specialists was working on a new bill that provided that all the companies that have activities in Romania have their profits taxed in the country. The bill’s goal would be to curb “profit export” by local subsidiaries to parent-companies abroad. “It’s inadmissible that a big company that has posted losses in Romania for eight years gets state aid and says that it’s on a loss when it actually exports all profits abroad,” Badalau was quoted as saying, according to Digi24.ro. He didn’t nominate the company in question. Badalau also mentioned that “the biggest retailer in Romania” only made a 1% profit margin, which he considers “extremely strange”, according to