President Nicușor Dan had discussions with representatives of the business environment in Romania on Thursday, in an attempt to find solutions to reduce the budget deficit.
Business people conveyed to the president that they do not agree with tax increases and proposed a set of measures for the future government to take shortly after installation.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the following employers' and business organizations: Concordia Employers' Confederation, Foreign Investors Council, Romanian Business Leaders Foundation, American Chamber of Commerce in Romania, French Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Romania, Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the National Council of Small and Medium Private Enterprises in Romania.
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Nicușor Dan talks about two stages
At the beginning of the meeting, Nicușor Dan proposed a package of measures for the deficit to be elaborated by June 30, followed by "construction."
"I hope this will be the first of many meetings we will have, and I would propose, because you know it is a difficult moment for Romania's fiscal policy, so to speak, to divide the discussion into two: what needs to be done before June 30 when we must prepare a package for the second half of 2025 where we should take some measures for the deficit, hopefully, as many expenditure reductions as possible, and after June 30, where we should talk about construction-related matters," Nicușor Dan stated at the beginning of the meeting.
Repeating for the tenth time: No tax increases
Concordia Association President Dan Șucu stated that he does not agree with tax increases, as they are already very high.
"We have a very clear point of view – the taxes already paid by companies are very high, from our point of view, the issues regarding the deficit are related to the excessive spending of public money.
From our point of view, repeating for the tenth time, we do not agree with tax increases," declared Dan Șucu, as quoted by Antena3.
In turn, Sergiu Neguț, President of Romanian Business Leaders (RBL), stated that the deficit should be covered by expenditure cuts, not tax increases.
"Romania's important priority is to continue economic acceleration. Because without economic growth, we cannot cover the gap we currently have, without economic growth, our companies cannot grow, jobs cannot be created, salaries cannot increase.
The deficit must be covered by expenditure cuts, not tax increases. It goes beyond that, it's an ongoing story, the fact that Romania has the highest VAT gap in the EU, a VAT gap double that of our Bulgarian neighbors, which we should look into to see how we can address it because there are issues that can be addressed as the ANAF digitalization started a few years ago has already produced effects, we could have access to data, but these are just a few things because in reality, there are so many inefficiencies," stated Sergiu Neguț.
Florin Duma, President of SME Romania, emphasized that the organization he leads supports reducing budget expenditures and opposes tax increases.
"SME Romania has also supported reducing budget expenditures. We oppose tax increases. We proposed to the president to consider that those discussions with the political environment must also necessarily include the business environment, so that they can play a constructive role and lead to the conclusions we all desire, namely the reduction of the budget deficit," mentioned Florin Duma, as quoted by Agerpres.
Measures proposed for the future government
Consequently, Concordia proposes a set of measures for the future Government to take shortly after installation, to temper economic and social tensions, in 4 priority areas in need of urgent reforms, namely: reducing budget expenditures, fiscal-budgetary balance, debureaucratization, and investments.
Measures to reduce budget expenditures
- Abolishing excessive privileges in public administration, as well as freezing the growth of expenditures on goods and services at the inflation level and a realistic assessment of whether Romania can afford all the indexations and increases in public salaries and pensions provided by law for 2026.
- Eliminating unjustified and irrational expenditures and widespread use of cost standards alongside streamlining the public procurement system, which should be less cumbersome and not allow manipulation through specific mechanisms or excessive bureaucratization.
- Respecting corporate governance and improving efficiency in companies with full or majority state capital, including separating administrative and regulatory functions.
Measures for fiscal-budgetary balance
- Romania urgently needs a plan to reduce the deficit on the trajectory assumed at the EU level, a plan that will restore the confidence of financiers.
- Maintaining the flat tax system is another important advantage for Romania, both in relation to citizens (supporting the middle class) and companies (increased competitiveness).
- Addressing tax evasion as a national security measure is another point on entrepreneurs' agenda.
- Eliminating over-taxation on part-time employment contracts, to facilitate a fair distribution of the tax burden in relation to the work performed and to allow access to the market for categories currently inactive.
- Eliminating the minimum turnover tax.
- Abandoning price capping on energy and strengthening schemes for vulnerable consumers.
- Abandoning price capping on RCA insurance or margins on basic foodstuffs.
- Implementing the research and development tax credit as a measure to keep Romania economically relevant in the regional and global context.
Debureaucratization measures
- Establishing a dedicated unit for simplification and debureaucratization at the Government level, with broad support from Parliament.
- Appointing a Deputy Prime Minister with clear responsibilities for digitizing public institutions and quickly resolving several major points with significant social and economic impact: identity cards, registrations, marriages, and other significant life events for which citizens should have a fast and efficient experience with the state.
- Limiting repeated tax audits during the prescription period.
- Adopting objective and transparent criteria for selecting taxpayers for audits.
- Unifying approvers at the county level into a single contact point, reducing the issuance time of documents and supporting investment development through counseling and guidance.
Investment measures
- Accelerating the absorption of available European funds for Romania, materializing in investments and programs with a multiplier effect, as well as operationalizing the reforms and milestones from the PNRR that have blocked access to current funding tranches and rearranging planned investments to maximize absorption.
- Rapid and massive investments in developing skills for people to access better jobs and be more productive, through training vouchers funded by European funds.
- Continuing infrastructure projects (energy, transport, environment, etc.) in progress and completing them to increase the economic competitiveness of Romanian companies, as well as scaling up PNRR-funded investments that can be completed by the deadline, including reallocating resources from projects that cannot be delivered on time.