The governing coalition met again on Tuesday evening to discuss the second package of fiscal measures.
President Nicușor Dan also visited the Government, where he spent around 30 minutes discussing with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu.
99% of package 2 agreed upon
After the meeting, Minister of National Defense Ionuţ Moşteanu stated that the parties in the governing coalition have agreed on 99% of the second package of fiscal and budgetary measures, expressing his opinion that the package will be adopted by the Government on Friday afternoon.
"We have reached an agreed version in a percentage of 99%, I would say, by all parties in the coalition, for this package 2, and we expect that by the end of the week, so tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, from the projects that have been made transparent and discussed in the coalition, a single project will be consolidated, which will then obtain all the necessary approvals and on Friday afternoon, probably in the evening, we will have a Government meeting to approve this package," Moşteanu stated on Tuesday evening to Euronews Romania.
He emphasized that "there are two or three more things regarding taxation" that need to be discussed, highlighting that as he is not the head of ministries directly related to these measures, he will not comment on them.
"It is important that we take these steps, as Prime Minister Bolojan is very determined to balance Romania's fiscal budget, as it did not look good and still does not look good, the problem is not solved, we entered this year with a huge deficit and correcting this deficit cannot happen overnight, there is an inertia in some state expenditures and we still have work to do," added Ionuţ Moşteanu.
Combining pension with salary removed from package 2
Furthermore, Minister of Defense Ionuţ Moşteanu stated that the proposal to prohibit the combination of pension with salary in public institutions "seems like it will not be" included in the second package of fiscal and budgetary measures.
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Moşteanu argues that there is a need for "a solution" for such situations, considering it immoral for a person who retires to re-engage, sometimes even in the same institution they retired from.
"Even if we do not find it now, I believe a solution must be found because what is happening is not right. If a citizen believes they should retire and cannot work anymore, but then the next day you get employed by the state in another place, or even in the same institution, it is absolutely immoral.
If this is not in this package, and it seems it won't be, a solution that is standing and constitutional must be found. I understand the right to work, I also understand the right to retirement, but I understand this social justice where you must respect those around you, and if you retire, you cannot get re-employed the next day in the same place," stated Ionuţ Moşteanu.
Moşteanu also mentioned that the coalition parties have agreed on how the financing of local public authorities will be carried out, considering that there was a discussion regarding whether the number of residents to which the funding mechanism should refer to should be based on the census or the data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
"It was agreed that both the cuts and the funding should take into account the data from INS," Moşteanu stated in this context.
What Nicușor Dan discussed with Bolojan and Grindeanu
Sources cited by News.ro stated that President Nicuşor Dan discussed with coalition leaders the need for a transition period for raising the retirement age of magistrates and how to determine the pension level.
According to the same sources, the presence of the head of state at the Victoria Palace can be explained by the fact that "he had a comma on the magistrates' reform." The President also discussed with politicians and people from the judiciary, concluding that the real issue is not the increase in the retirement age, but the need for a transition period, the same sources declare.
They reported that the President's argument was that a magistrate who is currently of retirement age cannot suddenly find themselves with another 10 years until retirement.
Another topic addressed was that by applying changes to the calculation of magistrates' pensions, there would result in a "too abrupt" percentage cut in pensions in accordance with the new provisions, leading to a drastic decrease in the pension level. The same sources also stated that the President went to the Government for this discussion because he is expected to leave Bucharest again in the following days.
Civilized discussions
During the coalition meeting, PNL's First Vice President, Ciprian Ciucu, wrote on Facebook that there was no scandal during Nicușor Dan's visit.
"I am writing live, openly, not based on sources, from the Coalition meeting, after reading a hallucinating headline: 'UPDATE Scandal at the Coalition meeting? Nicușor Dan left the Government headquarters after just half an hour SOURCES.' There is no scandal. We were discussing civilly, extremely technical matters. The President came, discussed with party leaders, reached agreements on essential issues, and left," wrote Ciprian Ciucu.
"It's like Radio Yerevan: 'Is it true that comrade X and comrade Y had an argument? Yes, in principle, they argued, but their viewpoints coincide, and they agreed on how to proceed in the future,'" Ciucu added.
The governing coalition met on Monday evening, in full format, after PSD decided to return to the negotiation table.