Spokeswoman Dobrovolschi: President Iohannis deems budget rectification, an attempt to bar fundamental institution's activity

President Klaus Iohannis deems that the budget rectification as announced by the government is "a gross violation of and an attempt to bar through budgetary constraints, the activity of a fundamental institution," on Tuesday said the Romanian President's spokeswoman Madalina Dobrovolschi. 

"As regards the Presidential Administration, the President of Romania deems that the budget rectification as announced is a gross violation of and an attempt to bar through budgetary constraints, the activity of a fundamental institution. The consequences upon the actions of the President of Romania and implicitly upon the representation of the Romanian state are serious. After several attempts from the current parliamentary majority to cut off the prerogatives of Romania's President, it is the Government now that is resorting to this kind of budgetary sabotage. Regardless of what the current ruling political decision-makers think, this is not about Klaus Iohannis, this is about the Romanian state and its citizens, as well," Dobrovolschi said at the Cotroceni Palace. 

According to the President's spokeswoman, the budget rectification has nothing to do with the need of enhancing the national budget, it is just "a tool for budget sanctioning the political opponents and the institutions that are not subordinated to the ruling PSD." 
Madalina Dobrovolschi also specified that the Presidential Administration has learned last week from the Prime Minister's statements and subsequently from a document released on the gov't's website that it is placed on a list with the state institutions that are to have a negative rectification of over 10 million lei. 

"To include the Presidential Administration on that list is all the more surprising as the Public Finance Ministry had initially informed that the budget was to be slashed by 2.869 million lei, which represented 10 pct of the <> and <> chapters. On Friday the 3rd of August 2018, after talks between the representatives of the Gov't and of the Presidential Administration following the release of the document above-mentioned on the Gov't website, we've learned that in fact the budget of the presidential body is tabled to be slashed by 11.109 million lei, an amount resulted from 13-million lei cut offs concomitantly with the addition of the necessary sums for the staff spending," Dobrovolschi said. 

She specified that the Presidential Administration has sent an address to the Government wherein it says why such a huge rectification, nearly 19 pct of the budget initially approved, would practically bar this year's activity, presenting with arguments the needs of financing for the third quarter of 2018. 

"The Government has knowingly ignored all of the arguments and upheld its decision to cut the budget credits, as the ordinance draft published last evening (Monday, ed. n.) for public consultation on the Public Finance Ministry's website says. Thus we have the clear proof that the cut of the Presidential Administration's budget is an arbitrary decision, based on strictly political reasons. Given the circumstances, the Gov't is just preventing the President of Romania from fulfilling the exercising of their constitutional attributions,' Madalina Dobrovolschi stressed. 

According to the president's spokeswoman, on Tuesday the Presidential Administration has sent the Public Finance Ministry a new address in which it demanded the modification of the budget rectification file in accordance with the initial decision as agreed with the ministry's officials. 

"It falls on the Government to establish the budget of each institution, and yet the Government cannot affect through its decisions the functioning of any state institution. By doing so, the Government would practically use the public finance as a political tool," Dobrovolschi added.