Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu claims that the Government will sign an agreement with the future European Commission to reduce the budget deficit for 7 years, with a decrease of 0.74% annually.
The PM has made this announcement in the context in which he promised the business environment that next year the Government will not increase taxes and fees, and, in his opinion, the agreement with the European Commission on reducing the deficit over 7 years would guarantee this fact.
“The fact that we reached a dialogue with the Commission and, naturally, that with the next commission we will initial the agreement, we will have for 7 years the entry into the deficit assumed from Maastricht of 3%, with a 0.74 annual decrease, shows the fact that no one wants to increase any tax or fee”, said Ciolacu.
The Prime Minister also said that no tax increases are foreseen for next year.
“I don’t think Romania can afford to have tax increases next year. Romania has to do an analysis and we still have the tax reform, there, in the exception area. And we know very well that any decision taken in 2025 has fiscal effects in fiscal year 2026″, Prime Minister Ciolacu promised the businessmen.
Ciolacu also said that an increase in VAT is excluded, reiterating though that Romania has a big problem – tax evasion, but combating it must be done after risk analyses, made by software, artificial intelligence, not after random checks, empirically, which are no longer done anywhere in the world.
“Usually I’m used to bad things and I’m used to criticisms and things that don’t work”, said Marcel Ciolacu, at the launch of the 22nd edition of the “White Paper of Romanian SMEs”.
The Prime Minister added: “We need political stability for 4 years, a multi-year budget (…) a predictable and unchangeable legislation for an average period and we have to do this because it is included in the PNRR. The most important reforms will be found in Request number 4″.
The PM Ciolacu underlined that it has been possible for public investments not to be blocked in recent years, after the pandemic, the energy crisis, the beginning of the war and the increase in prices.
“We have a big problem – apart from inflation (…) We have tax evasion (…) We couldn’t keep looking at the Ministry of Finance as those random checks continue (…) something empirical, which is not it is done nowhere else in the world. There are risk softwares that analyze your numbers. You don’t have to leave with your purse or bag to the economic agents, randomly, as a computer gives you. You have to go after a risk analysis done by artificial intelligence. We don’t have to have tons of papers and reports that the ANAF and the Ministry of Finance and you have to draw up after I don’t know what control. (…) All the changes made by Minister Boloş were disturbing (…) Good people, the Romanian state did not have any information. The Romanian state makes decisions if it makes them, good ones, by ear”.
He stated that digitization is part of solving the problem.
“It was normal to look for the most important companies worldwide in these sectors – Microsoft, Google, Oracle – that came and are involved in the digitization and modernization of the public system”, the prime minister also specified, explaining that every town hall, every ministry had software own and nothing was integrated. “I hear about VAT increases. Such a thing is excluded (…) I don’t think that Romania can afford to have tax increases next year”, explained the prime minister. “Romania needs four years of construction, of commitment. This does not mean new taxes and new fees, because only a narrow mind comes up with new taxes and fees in a period of development (…) A real partnership is really needed. These elections will also pass (…) I promise you that I will not take any decision on my feet (…) It will be the year with the largest investments in Romania and it will be the year in which, with certainty, we will exceed more than 7 % investments“, PM Ciolacu concluded.