EC expects Romanian Government to prove sustainability of measures

The European Commission expects evidence from the Romanian Government that it can support the salary and pension increases and will not exceed a budget deficit of 3%, so that Romania doesn’t enter the infringement procedure, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu said yesterday. She added that the EC worries that Romania could get in the situation of Greece. “Spain, Portugal have entered the crisis. It's important that we don’t get there. (...) We have money, economic growth. But let’s see how sustainable are these proposals for salary increases, so that we don’t enter the infringement procedure, to be put under observation for the way we exceed the budget deficit or not,” Corina Cretu said, reports local News.ro. European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrivskis and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, sent in February a letter to the Romanian Finance Minister Viorel Stefan warning that, according to available data, Romania’s budget deficit would exceed 3% reaching 3.6% in 2017 and 3.9% in 2018. They demanded that the government announce clear measures to reduce the budget deficit. Romanian SocDem leader criticizes finance minister’s statements on cutting expenses editor@romania-insider.com