On Tuesday evening, the leaders of the PSD, PNL, UDMR parties plus the minorities presented the principles of the future government program, if they reach the government. So far, USR does not seem to be part of the future governing coalition. After two weeks of meetings, in which attention to this pro-EU, pro-NATO, pro-Euro-Atlantic coalition was at its highest level after the stunning result of the first round of the presidential elections, the maximum that could be produced was a copy and pastimes from previous government programs, which no one applied. How can anyone believe that those who were in power – PSD – PNL, can now do what they haven't done in decades? This new government program, which should save Romania from the wave of sovereignty, nationalism, populism, extremism, which is getting closer and closer to the Victoria Palace and the Cotroceni Palace, has nothing concrete, no figures, no deadlines of implementation, it has no managers, it simply has nothing. «The abolition of regional institutions starting from March 1 represents a firm step for more efficient administration and closer to the citizen. This measure aims to reduce excessive bureaucracy, eliminate parallel structures and increase transparency in the management of public resources» – that's what the party leaders and their consultants were able to produce in two weeks. This phrase does not say anything about how much the excessive bureaucracy is reduced, which are the parallel structures that must be eliminated, what expenditure reduction is forecast. «Combination of regulatory authorities from the same field of activity based on an analysis, within six months». PSD, PNL, UDMR have been in government for years and so far they have not been able to do this analysis, they are not able to say what spending reductions are being made and from where. «Cancellation or simplification of non-functional or over-bureaucratic regulations» – what are they, how many budgets are involved, what spending reductions are made? Digitization and interconnection of databases at the level of central and local public administrations – what does this mean, what cost reductions are made? (When you bring in IT, expenses go up), how many days of work are saved from this digitization? We can go on and on with these ideas produced by this coalition, by the same people, who have so far demonstrated that they have been unable to do anything from previous government programs, except borrow, increase pensions and wages, to increase spending on goods and services to an unprecedented level, which brought us to the situation we are in today. When the government needs to borrow more than 250 billion next year. lei, that is to find 50 billion. euros to finance the budget deficit from 2025 – 125 billion. lei, to roll over debts that are due and cannot be paid because there is no money for this, to pay increasing interest, not decreasing (125 billion lei), when all financial markets, when all investors , when all the international banks, when all the analysts, when all the international lenders are looking at Romania with concern and with many question marks, this coalition comes with a restructuring plan that provides for the first point to reduce the number of ministries to the maximum 16, from 18 now, and the number of agencies by at least 25%; reducing the number of state secretaries by at least 50% and a maximum of two state secretaries per ministry and a maximum of three state secretaries in larger ministries! When the government has to find 250 billion lei next year, the coalition proposes these reductions that do not exceed 5 million. of euros per year, i.e. 0.001%. When the rating agencies are waiting for concrete data from the new government to reduce the budget deficit from 120 billion. to 80 billion lei, by reducing expenses from 780 billion. lei to 700 billion at least, so that they don't throw us into the «junk» category, i.e. Romania is no longer recommended to investors, we come in front of everyone with phrases like «efficiency audit for each central authority, regional institutions and state companies in the top six months of next year». Romania, in the last 10 years, was financed by the international and domestic financial markets, because it had a high economic growth, because it did not face an obvious wave of populism, because Romania was the country that voted in the polls mostly the European Union and NATO. This economic growth, supported by the increase in budget expenditures, salaries and pensions, covered the public structural problems, i.e. of the state. But everything is breaking now in an extremely fast way, and with such government programs we are getting nowhere. The public debt exceeded 900 billion. lei, the debt service, i.e. the interest, is getting higher and heavier and hangs more and more heavily in the budget structure (the debt service now exceeds the profit tax paid by companies) and no one is buying the government's promises that it will fix things. In 2010, for a minus of only 1 billion. euro, Traian Băsescu, with his back against the wall, had to cut salaries in the budget sector by 25%, restructure the budget apparatus with 300,000 people and increase VAT from 19% to 24%. If he didn't do that, the financial markets wouldn't lend to us anymore, the agreement with the IMF was in the air and we risked being thrown into the pit of lions, from where we wouldn't come out alive. Now it is not about 1 billion. euros, but 50 billion. euros, money we need. Romania does not have this money on the domestic market to cover the budget deficit, to roll over the debts that reach maturity and to provide more money for the private financing of the economy. So we have to borrow them from outside, and the financial markets no longer buy such government programs. The financial markets need to know concretely by how much the budget expenses are reduced, how many employees are reduced, by how much the salary budget is reduced, how the pension budget is kept under control, how the expenses with goods and services are reduced, which increased the most in 2024. During the year, concrete measures to reduce expenses were presented in the Aleph News television program ȘTIU PE CE LUME TĂIESC budget, restructuring of the budget sector, reallocation of funds in the sectors that are going. https://alephnews.ro/inregistrare/stiu-pe-ce-lume-traiesc-3-iulie-2024-cum-sa-mergi-pe-drumul-tau/https://alephnews.ro/inregistrare /stiu-pe-ce-lume-traiesc-29-mai-2024-cum-facem-copii-multi-premosi-si-destepti/https://alephnews.ro/inregistrare/stiu-pe-ce-lume-tra iesc-17-aprilie-2024-cum-poti-fi-bogat-intr-o-romanie-bogata/https://alephnews.ro/inregistrare/stiu-pe-ce-lume-traiesc-3-aprilie-202 4-cum-iei-puterea-in-orasul-tau/https://alephnews.ro/inregistrare/stiu-pe-ce-lume-traiesc-27-martie-2024-cum-iti-iei-bugetul-inapoi/ Even at the 13th hour, President Iohannis, together with these parties – PSD, PNL, UDMR, do not understand that there is no more time for such governing documents. The financial markets need concrete data, which they don't have time to wait for 3-4 months, as long as Iohannis remains in the position of president, or as long as this coalition wants to stay in power. As the National Bank said, if we do not do the budget restructuring – sold to the public through this phrase of fiscal consolidation – the financial markets will do it in a brutal way. The problem would not be that Iohannis, Ciolacu, Bolojan, Hunor would be swept from power. The problem is that those who will come do not know as much as those who know now, and the result will be a generalized chaos with an end in which society will even question the Euro-Atlantic side where we are.
For other news, analyses, articles and business information in real time, follow NV on WhatsApp Channels