The final shape of the fiscal package will be decided next week

The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will meet, most likely next week, in joint session, for the package of fiscal-budgetary measures for which the Government has announced that it will assume responsibility.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that the key elements of the document are the over-taxation of luxury, excessive profit and ensuring fiscal fairness between taxpayers.

USR and AUR categorized the document as absolutely unfair, because it hits the Romanian economy, and announced that they would initiate a censure motion. UDMR stated that it does not support such an approach for the time being.

Reporter: Petruta Dinu - Presented in the first reading in the Government, the package contains priorities such as increasing collection and combating tax evasion, but reducing state expenses.

Marcel Ciolacu: We massively reduce management positions in the budgetary apparatus, cut vacancies, merge and decentralize institutions to reduce bureaucracy and limit state expenditures, including by capping increases.

Reporter: On the other hand, the opposition criticizes the measures and threatens with a censure motion or even with a referral to the Constitutional Court. UDMR is also not in agreement with the intervention of the executive in the activity of local authorities or with the merging of cultural institutions, said the leader of the Union, Hunor Kelemen.

Kelemen Hunor: You cannot intervene from the central level and say what the local authorities are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do, how much they have to spend on culture, sports, religion, etc. So, it cannot be accepted.

Producer: Among the fiscal measures by which the Government wants to cover the hole in the state budget are the elimination of some facilities for certain employees, higher taxes and fees, increased excise duties on alcohol and tobacco, but also a special tax on valuable goods.

Translated by: Radu Matei