Social democrats say Romania's new Government starts with EUR 10 bln in treasury

Liviu Dragnea, the president of the Social Democrat Party PSD, presented yesterday the results of the social-democrat government between 2012 and 2015. He said that the former government left almost EUR 10 billion in the state’s accounts, which the new government could spend, reports Hotnews.ro. The 10% increase in the public sector wages is covered by the next year’s budget, Dragnea added. Last week, Romania’s Chamber of Deputies voted a 10% salary hike for all state employees, starting December 1 this year. The wage hike was introduced on Tuesday by the Social Democratic Party as an amendment to the law which approved the Government Emergency Ordinance to increase the salaries in the public healthcare sector by 25%, which came into force on October 1. Dragnea also said that the social democrats were worried that the new Government led by Dacian Ciolos would not apply the changes in the Fiscal Code voted by PSD. The biggest one is the general VAT rate cut from 24% to 20% starting January 1, 2016. Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta did not attend the conference. editor@romania-insider.com