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Senate adopts simple motion against Finance Minister Florin Citu
The Senate has adopted, on Monday, the simple motion against Minister of Public Finance, Florin Citu. The motion received 59 votes "for", 56 "against" and two abstentions. The simple motion, titled "PNL Government, your name is austerity" was initiated by 41 Social Democratic Party (PSD)'s senators.
"Mr. Citu, as minister, made hazardous and irresponsible statements only to serve political orders of the party he represents in a moment with maximum public exposure - the electoral campaign for the presidential elections," the simple motion mentions.
According to the quoted source, the only "certainty" after the investiture of the Orban Government and the installation of Florin Citu in Finances "is, at this moment, the devaluation of the leu in relation to the euro and US dollar, which will translate for Romania's population into increased bills, prices for goods and services, of installments for bank credits and inflation."
The motion also states that "the ROBOR (interbank offered rate) index at 3 months, which is the basis for the interest rate calculation for most credits in lei, has risen to 3.03 pct, the highest level in the past month, according to data published on Monday, December 2, by the National Bank of Romania (BNR). On Friday, the ROBOR at 3 months has stagnated at 2.99 pct. On Monday, this index rose to 3.03 pct, the highest level since October 29, when it was also 3.03 pct [...] Thus, the month of November came with record devaluation of the national currency, and the main cause is the irresponsibility of the public statements made by Mr. Citu from the position of Minister of Finance."
The document also refers to the "algorithm for firing, which was already established: simple, dry, percentile. It's the must have measure number 4 of Citu's list - the introducing of the 85/15 principle, meaning employees in the budget sector can't represent more than 15 pct of the total employees in the economy."
"Of the approximately 6 million employees - in state and the private business environment, only 900,000 persons to work in the state system would remain of the approximately 1,300,000 employed in the public apparatus - ministries, agencies, local administration, educational staff, medical doctors, firemen, policemen, soldiers, researchers, etc. The difference is exactly 400,000 that they announced they want to fire! If there were only dry numbers and some simple calculations with percentages, we could even add, but, what do you know, in the entire administrative apparatus - central and local - only 280,000 people work, who obviously, can't all be fired!" the PSD motion shows.
Prime Minister Ludovic Orban affirmed on Monday, after the Social Democratic Party's (PSD) motion against the Minister of Finance was adopted by the Senate, that he will not take any action in the case of Florin Citu.
He stated, at the end of a meeting with the members of the Romanian Association of Municipalities, that he is pleased with the Minister of Finance, saying that the motion was "a cheap political move".
"Their votes are nothing more than to raise a podium to the Minister of Finance, and as far as I am concerned, I am very pleased with the Minister of Finance and in no way do I intend to make any decision related to him," said Orban.
He added that he does not accept that the Minister of Finance "should be judged by those who have blown up the budget for the last three years," stressing that the PSD should be the last party to express an opinion on the issue of public finances in Romania.
At the same time, the prime minister said that former Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici "should account elsewhere for the budget disaster he has left".
In his turn, the Minister of Finance, Florin Citu, said that the motion is not about him and what he did in the ministry, but represents a political step taken by a "sad duo trying to mask Romania's real economic situation". He stated that for three years the real situation was not presented and that Romania received warnings from rating agencies, the European Commission, the IMF, independent analysts, all saying that Romania is going in the wrong direction.