Independent candidate for Romania’s Presidency, Călin Georgescu complained in an interview with POLITICO that he has to pay foreign companies for water, gasoline and natural gas in Romania. He does not agree with the simple rules of the market economy. In addition, he talks about nationalizations and different taxation, depending on the nationality of shareholders, which would drive away foreign investors and go against European values. And the effects could be devastating, as the example of Venezuela, one of the countries with the richest oil resources, but which collapsed after the nationalization of companies shows.
Călin Georgescu’s economic plan, entitled “Food, Water, Energy,” promotes concepts such as “distributism,” local production, and spirituality, and reflects a vision that is far from European values. Although he caught the eye of many by promising a flat tax rate of 10%, his plan also includes differentiated taxation between Romanian and foreign-owned companies. Călin Georgescu, independent presidential candidate: “What do these corporations that come to Romania mean? Okay, that’s understandable. But taxation must be done on income, not on profit, so that you can hide it or bring it into the red. You tax the Romanian entrepreneur, the Romanian companies, on profit, and those in stages and in stages.” Companies would have to transfer 2% of their turnover to the state if it exceeds 1 million euros, according to his economic plan.
Radu Burnete, executive director of the Concordia Employers’ Federation: “All companies in Romania are Romanian. They are Romanian SRLs or SAs. That company is owned by another foreign entity. That’s something else. There can be no taxation on a Romanian company or a foreign company. If you tried to do this, why would you discourage foreign companies from coming to Romania? These companies have brought tens of billions to this country, they employ over 1,000,000 people and without them we would not have the economy we have today. If we had not integrated into the European Union and had not had these foreign investments, Romanians’ incomes would have been 60-70% lower.“
Adrian Codîrlașu, president of the CFA: “Such a policy of discriminating between investors is incompatible with membership in the European Union. Nowhere in a European country does this happen, nowhere in a democratic country does this happen.”
Such intentions will quickly lead to tough decisions from Brussels, including the blocking of European funds.
Cristian Popa, member of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania: “EU membership has gone fantastically well for Romania. Without European funds, I must say that we would have fantastic problems in financing the deficits. The deficits are not small at all, the budget deficit, the external deficit are very large. European funds and foreign direct investments mostly financed the external deficit. Now their share has decreased, we see this tension in the financial markets.“
Another idea that goes against European values is to condition foreign investments on a partnership with the Romanian state or a Romanian company, which would own 51% of the shares. Călin Georgescu, independent presidential candidate: “The state or any Romanian entrepreneur, when it has an international partnership, will be in favor of the Romanian entrepreneur and in favor of the Romanian state.” This is exactly the Chinese model and that of the Gulf states, which are absolutist monarchies and not democracies.
Perhaps the most harmful idea of independent candidate Călin Georgescu is the nationalization of the country’s resources. In the interview for POLITICO but also in the TikTok clips, Georgescu claims that he will recover the privatized assets “oneros” from his perspective. The focus would be on several strategic sectors such as water and energy.
Călin Georgescu, independent presidential candidate: “The country’s resources, if you nationalize them and exploit them yourself, you don’t need a single cent from the European Union… do you understand what I’m saying? Not a single cent”
Adrian Codîrlașu, president of the CFA: “This is the road to the financial crisis. It’s enough to look at Venezuela. It is the country with the largest hydrocarbon resources and it is at the same time, due to the policies and nationalizations they have made in the energy sector, the poorest country in South America.” Venezuela’s economy has contracted by 80% in a decade, the population has faced hyperinflation, and the poverty rate has risen to 82%.
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