Romania to spend EUR 10 million on official jet, shared by Presidency, Government, Parliament leaders

The Romanian Government will buy a 12-seat airplane for official trips, which will be used by the country's president, the Prime Minister, the presidents of the two Parliament chambers and ministers. The country, which is among the few in the world that do not have an official airplane, is currently renting a place from Tarom to fly its officials abroad, but the plane will however go into repairs this fall. The Government will spend EUR 10 million on the jet, and save EUR 3 million from the allotted budget. “It costs us much more to travel every time with a rented plane,” said Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Romanian president Traian Basescu recently said he canceled his attendance to the UN General Meeting in New York in September for 'budget reasons.' Earlier this year, the media picked up the president jet story, highlighting that the contract between the Romanian Presidency and the state owned airline Tarom over the plane used by the country's president Traian Basescu had been canceled, leaving the president without his presidential jet. The Airbus 310 airplane, nicknamed the VIP plane, was used by Traian Basescu for trips abroad, and the presidency had a retainer contract for the plane, despite only using it occasionally. Back then, the president's options were regular scheduled flights, and for internal emergencies, military planes or helicopters. In March, president Basescu said he will take charter planes from a foreign company, and not fly Tarom from now on. According to Romanian media, the cost of one of the president's trips abroad using regular flights stays at some EUR 5,000 to EUR 7,000 for European destinations. The Presidency's budget for trips abroad is of EUR 1.1 million this year. editor@romania-insider.com