Romanian opposition passes simple motion against finance minister in Senate

Romania’s Senate, on December 9, endorsed a simple motion filed by the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) against finance minister Florin Citu, with 59 votes for the motion, 56 against, and two abstentions, G4media.ro reported.

PSD blamed minister Citu for having served electoral purposes by his statements as finance minister. In response, Citu accused former PSD finance minister Eugen Teodorovici of having been aware about the public deficit heading toward 4% of GDP this year.

He also implied PSD was not really willing to enforce the 40% pension hike next September and that he would come up with evidence in this regard if necessary.

Simple motions have no formal effects and prime minister Ludovic Orban defended Citu. Orban blamed PSD for petty politics, after the Social Democrats have ruined the public budget for the past three years.

He said that he has a very good cooperation with finance minister Citu and under no circumstance would he ask him to resign.

The new finance minister inherited a 2.8% of GDP budget deficit in the first 10 months of this year plus many unpaid bills to the private sector.

The Government recently amended the budget for this year to cover all expenses until the end of this year, which resulted in a budget deficit projection of 4.4% of GDP for the full year.

(Photo: Octav Ganea/ Inquam Photos)