The budget situation must be unblocked, Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare said on Wednesday, noting that Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan was informed about the situation in Parliament.
"The situation must be unblocked. The important thing to say is that we have held discussions with each credit authorizing officer in these months. There have been countless meetings in the coalition in which we have had the same type of pressure, but we must all understand at once that the way we build budgets is extremely important. If you allow me, it is extremely important and important to say: we have made concessions. It is not correct to say that there is no money for vulnerable categories in the budget. As long as there is 1.7 billion, it is not correct. The money is there, maybe it is not in the amount we would have liked, it is true, but 1.7 out of 2.7 billion [RON] is already in this budget, it is the money that is included", declared Alexandru Nazare, after the joint budget-finance committees decided on Wednesday evening to suspend debates on the budgets of the credit authorizing officers.
He added that he explained to his colleagues that they should also find funding through European programs, so that the solution "is not taken in haste".
"We have also made efforts to explain to our colleagues that they should find the possibility of financing children's programs through European programs. It is possible to finance the respective children's programs from the resizing of some projects using European funds. We want this too, it is more work, it is true, it is more complicated, it is more elaborate, but it can be done precisely to save this fiscal space. I would not like the solution we choose to be a solution taken in haste, after a while here and there", Nazare said.
Asked by journalists whether Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan had been informed and whether he would find a compromise solution, the Minister of Finance claimed that the Prime Minister had been fully available, in all the coalition meetings he attended, to reach a compromise formula.
"I listed earlier, beyond the limits that were granted in the budget. We have transferred additional amounts. We are talking about almost 5 billion for Transport, we are talking about 3 billion for Development, we are talking about 600 million for the Ministry of Agriculture. These are just a few examples and indeed, we have reached a point. We have secured the 1.7 million for the one-off payment on pensions at the level of last year and we have reached the point where we said that it is not safe to go further and it would not be good. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan has been informed of everything that happened here today and I hope that all the parties involved, all the coalition leaders, this evening, based on the data that we provide, will reach a conclusion that will be a good conclusion for Romania", Nazare emphasized.
As to the granting of the amounts requested by the PSD in the autumn rectification, the Minister of Finance stated that he had raised this issue several times in the coalition, but without being able to offer a guarantee in this regard, given the evolution of the budget execution.
Nazare also conveyed that there are many people in the PSD who want this budget exercise to end as soon as possible, and the budget to be adopted.
Journalists also asked him if he would have accepted the position of Minister of Finance if he had known that the current budget situation would exist, the Finance Minister replied: "You should know that we have been through a lot together in this coalition and as this coalition is, we have managed in the last eight months to fix many of the structural problems that would have led to the suspension of European funds and would have led us to a situation of rating degradation". "So there are things that have been demonstrated, there are things that have happened. However, even under these conditions we were able to make decisions", stated Alexandru Nazare.
He argued that, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, he must talk to all parties, understand the needs of these parties, understand the technical needs of the credit officers and find solutions.
"I repeated, I said earlier: I am discussing with all the coalition leaders and it is normal to do so, because we are at a very important moment and we need to have such discussions. If we can find the solution tonight or tomorrow, I cannot guarantee you. I am saying that we are obliged by circumstances to find a solution", the Minister of Finance pointed out.
The joint budget and finance committees decided on Wednesday to suspend debates, after proceedings were resumed around 6:00 p.m., but without reaching an agreement in the governing coalition on the 1.1 billion lei amendment, commitment credits and budget credits, to supplement the budget of the Ministry of Labor, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity.
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