{"id":5889,"date":"2025-07-14T13:00:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=5889"},"modified":"2025-07-14T13:00:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T13:00:34","slug":"romanian-president-defers-responsibility-for-vat-tax-hike-to-the-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=5889","title":{"rendered":"Romanian president defers responsibility for VAT tax hike to the government"},"content":{"rendered":"

During a press conference held on Monday, July 14, Romanian president Nicu\u0219or Dan<\/strong> defended the recent tax hikes<\/a> enacted by the government, underlining the need to reassure creditors and lower the country\u2019s public debt. Nevertheless, he said that the VAT increase was decided by the government.<\/p>\n

In the presidential campaign, then-candidate Nicu\u0219or Dan promised to not raise the VAT<\/a>, a measure that was nevertheless taken despite his initial opposition<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Specifically, Dan claims that \u201cthe government\u2019s commitment, at the time it was invested, was that VAT would not increase and that we would have a reevaluation in October. […] A set of measures and discussions with the European Commission, with the rating agencies, was needed, and the measure might not have had to be taken at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan specified that he conditioned the appointment of the prime minister on avoiding the increase of VAT, as he had promised during the electoral campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that month I had before appointing the prime minister, I looked into a lot of financial data, and with full knowledge, I had a discussion with the coalition and the designated prime minister. That was the understanding at the time of forming the government, for the corrections to be made while keeping VAT at 19%,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The president further said that upon appointing the leader of the National Liberal Party, Ilie Bolojan, as prime minister, the measures needed to address the deficit fell under the government\u2019s responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Nicu\u0219or Dan also addressed the public debate regarding the timing of the tax hikes. Numerous critics had stated that the government should have first started with reducing its own expenditures before burdening the private sector with more taxes. The president said that the tax hikes came due to the pressure of financial markets, \u201cwhich had been exposed for years to Romania\u2019s unfulfilled promises to cut spending.\u201d<\/p>\n

He insisted that the tax increases are temporary, and that the national economy has room to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I have said, by the end of 2026 we will join the OECD if we do not make mistakes, and Romania will be attractive to foreign investors. I want to assure investors and the markets that we are serious people. We promised to do the reforms and we will do them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dan also said that a reduction in public expenses – including the some 200 bonuses that numerous public employees enjoy – will be put into place in time.<\/p>\n

To show solidarity with the reduction in expenditures taken across the state apparatus, the Presidential Administration will propose a 20% reduction in its own budget. \u201cThat means RON 20 million (EUR 4 million), which is more than RON 1,000 (EUR 200), which I would reduce from my own salary,\u201d president Dan said.<\/p>\n

radu@romania-insider.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | George Calin)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a press conference held on Monday, July 14, Romanian president Nicu\u0219or Dan defended the recent tax hikes enacted by the government, underlining the need to reassure creditors and lower the country\u2019s public debt. Nevertheless, he said that the VAT increase was decided by the government. In the presidential campaign, then-candidate Nicu\u0219or Dan promised to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}