The tax reform is a firm commitment of Romania and, like it or not, we have to implement it and there can be no question of amending its content, said on Thursday, at the briefing at the end of the Government meeting, the Minister of Investment and European Projects, Marcel Bolos.
„This tax reform was included in the Fiscal Plan with the same commitments that we had in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which said very clearly that we have a deadline for implementation that we must respect. Unfortunately, the situation that we had when the Fiscal Plan was drafted did not anticipate this change that took place for the presidential elections and, of course, now, this reform, which is extremely important, but also complex for our country, must be implemented so that we can continue the implementation of the PNRR in normal conditions,” said Bolos.
He emphasized that in a situation of excessive budget deficit, the European Commission may propose to the Council the suspension of new commitments for PNRR, namely of the European funds, and expressed the hope that we will not end up in this situation and that the necessary steps will be taken for Romania to protect its financial interests.
„The tax reform, as I was saying, is a firm commitment of Romania and, whether we like it or not, we have to implement it. There are two regulations that govern the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the so-called Recovery and Resilience Facility, and the other regulation that governs the Cohesion Policy. Both regulations have this provision which clearly states that in situations of excessive budget deficit procedure and when there are deviations from the deficit target assumed, in our case, through the Fiscal Plan, this possibility exists. But we are in the process of renegotiation. At the moment we are concentrating on closing the renegotiation and, I repeat, I hope we don’t end up in this situation, because European funds are the only serious source of financing we have for Romania to be modernized. We need to show that we are serious and respect our commitments. And, from this point of view, the acting prime minister mentioned, including at the opening of the Government meeting, that what we have as commitments in our relations with the European Commission will be carried through to the end,” the minister said.
On the other hand, when asked how the tax reform will be finalized, Marcel Bolos pointed out that the responsibilities and limits that the interim Government has from the perspective of governmental decisions do not allow at the moment the adoption of emergency ordinances and draft laws and the intention of the interim prime minister, after the end of the technical negotiations, is to address Parliament and to identify a solution „that will convince and can bring these commitments to a successful conclusion”.
He mentioned that, from the point of view of tax reform, the responsibility lies with the Ministry of Finance and its representatives can provide details on the status of this reform.
„I can tell you what is written in the PNRR on tax reform, which I have said many times: the budgetary impact of these tax measures that will be taken is 1.7% of GDP. 1.7% of GDP at the time when the Fiscal Plan was being drafted meant 23 billion RON. This is currently the content of the fiscal reform that we have in the PNRR since it was drafted,” said Bolos.
He emphasized that the changes to the Tax Code and their entry into force depend on the negotiations with the European Commission and that amendments to the tax reform were not requested with the renegotiation of PNRR.
