PNL's Citu says he wants coalition consensus on reducing social security contributions by 5pct

National Liberal Party's (PNL) Florin Citu said on Wednesday that he wants a consensus in the governing coalition on cutting the CAS social security contributions by 5%, adding that certain measures were not discussed, such as the extension of the incentives in the construction sector to other sectors, Agerpres reports.

"There are a few PNL MPs who have tabled an amendment; I have seen some measures that have not been discussed in the coalition. For example, extending the construction incentives to three or four other sectors, which seems normal to me. Since we are doing something, let's do it for the whole economy. It is amid such context that that amendment was tabled, but I said very clearly yesterday that I want consensus in the coalition on this measure and we will discuss it in the coalition (...). It is simple, transparent, it is the parliamentary vote; my colleagues have tabled it. I think it is a reaction to what was not discussed in the coalition and it was tabled in Parliament, the extension of the construction incentives to certain sectors. I guess that is why they tabled it. I am choosing the option of discussing it in the coalition; if it is not approved in the coalition, we will see what measures are indeed approved in the coalition," Citu said at the Parliament House.

Regarding the budgetary impact on the cuts in the CAS contributions, Citu said that it is lower than that of subsidising the energy bills.

"It is smaller than the budgetary impact we have by subsidising the energy bills, it is a smaller impact. In the same way we take our money to subsidise the energy bills, only here we are talking about a benefit for all Romanians, it is money that is invested in the economy and we have money left over from corporate profits, which is about 20 billion left in the budget. Under that scheme, we take the money from the companies from overtaxing the profits and spend it on subsidising bills. In my proposal there is that impact, but the rest of the money from corporate taxation remains," Citu pointed out at the Palace of Parliament.

Citu said on Tuesday in Buzau that the only option for increasing the wages of Romanians is to reduce the contributions by five percentage points.

"I have proposed an increase in the wages of all Romanians by a cut in contributions by five percentage points. That means higher net income for all Romanians. It will be difficult for PNL to support any other measure that will increase the income of only one category of Romanians.We are interested in the well-being of all Romanians, and today there is only one measure that can increase the salaries of all Romanians. That is the cut in contributions by five percentage points," Citu told a news conference.