Romania’s ruling coalition defers deadline for second package of fiscal reforms for mid-August

The second package of fiscal reforms will be agreed by the end of July, but it will be enacted in the first part of August, Romania’s ruling coalition agreed in a meeting on July 23, according to converging sources familiar with the negotiations quoted by Euronews.

Sorin Grindeanu, the interim president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) president, indirectly confirmed this in a press conference, saying that the public investments will be reviewed on an individual basis over the next two to three weeks.

Grindeanu said that the Anghel Saligni scheme of public investments, funded from the national budget, as opposed to the EU funds, “is not frozen” and within the next two to three weeks the county councils will discuss with the Ministry of Development each project in part.

The PSD leader also said that the measures proposed by the Social Democrats for the second package of reforms, including the turnover tax for all companies, crypto trading taxation, and the revision of several measures in the first package of reforms, will be discussed with the ruling partners.

He agreed with having the second package of reforms endorsed under the same accelerated procedure used for the first package (no debates or vote on each measure in parliament but possibly a confidence vote if opposition requires it), except for several measures such as the revision of measures in the first package and some measures related to the local administration reforms.

Grindeanu’s statements have a rather political dimension, aimed at convincing his party, particularly the regional leaders, that he has obtained better terms for the second package of reforms from prime minister Ilie Bolojan. Grindeanu is seeking to secure a full term at the party’s congress this autumn, and he is under constant pressure from influential members to take a dominant role in the ruling coalition with regard to the fiscal reform packages.

“I am sure that resources will be identified and the investments with a high degree of execution will be prioritised. No investment with an advanced degree of realization will be stopped,” Grindeanu said, claiming that this is a concession obtained after negotiations within the coalition.

This is largely what Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan previously announced – with the concession regarding only the case-by-case evaluation of each project, which should result in better prioritization of investments within the same limited overall budget. The funds for the scheme will not be increased, deputy prime minister Tanczos Barna explained in a