Prime Minister Ludovic Orban stated on Wednesday that the Social Democratic Party (PSD) are “rambling” when they claim that the National Liberal Party (PNL) has copied their governing program, and the representatives of the Save Romania Union (USR) “are talking just to fool around” when they criticize the National Investment Plan launched by the Government.
Ludovic Orban was asked, at public broadcaster TVR, what he has to say about the PSD leaders’ statements that a large part of the National Investment and Economic Relaunch Plan, drawn up by the Government, is copying the governing program of the Social-Democrats.
“They’re rambling. Why have they not applied in three years of governing IMM Invest? There are already 10,000 SMEs that have benefited and the ceiling exceeds 10 billion. We will probably raise the ceiling to 20 billion if necessary (…),” Orban said.
Regarding the USR, the Prime Minister said that the representatives of this party started criticizing the National Investment Plan before it was presented by the Government.
“I won’t speak now of some critiques. They didn’t even know the content of the governing program. They had no way of knowing it, because we presented it this evening. They started criticizing before they saw the program. A colleague from the USR referred to the investment fund, likening the investment fund with Valcov’s fund. That person hasn’t read, he has no idea. The investment fund that was publicly launched by the PSD, that was a fund that placed as collateral all the shares owned by the state in companies in Romania, allowing practically the hostile takeover of shares from those companies. We have no connection to the mechanism that Valcov thought out. The investment fund is done with an initial capitalization of the state, the investment fund does not enter anything but private equity. If a company wants to make an investment and the management of the investment fund considers that following that investment the value of shares of that company will increase, the fund buys a share package and sells them after the shares go up in value (…) They have no idea. They are speaking just to fool around. I advise them to read first and then issue opinions,” said Ludovic Orban at TVR, retorting to the reactions expressed by the leaders of PSD, USR and ALDE to the Government economic recovery plan.
Ciolacu maintains that Gov’t economic relaunch plan is copied from PSD governing program
Acting chair of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu stated on Wednesday that a large part of the National Investment and Economic Relaunch Plan, drawn up by the Government, copies the governing program of the Social Democrats.
“It’s obvious that the program is copied [the National Investment and Economic Relaunch Plan], I’ll give you the one from 2016 and you will compare and you will see – it’s copied. Go figure, some passages that the PSD already accomplished are also copied,” Ciolacu told a press conference.
He reiterated the intention of the PSD to submit a censure motion in Parliament, but did not say when that would happen.
“In what regards the censure motion, I am telling you that we will submit a censure motion. Moreover, this motion will pass. When we submit a censure motion, the economic program we will come up with in the short term, until the general elections, that we will show to Romanians, to the colleagues in Parliament, but not least to President Iohannis when he takes the decision on whom to designate as Prime Minister – taking this decision within the party is my colleagues’ task and mine,” the PSD leader mentioned.
Ciolacu stated that submitting a censure motion in an extraordinary session is constitutional.
ALDE: PNL Program – summary of what was not achieved in decades
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) considers that the economic recovery plan represents the National Liberal Party (PNL)’s political program for this year’s election campaign, meant “to impress with its dimensions rather than to offer practical solutions”.
“PNL announces its entry into the election campaign by presenting the political program tonight! The PNL government, in the presence of Klaus Iohannis, is not presenting an economic recovery program tonight. It is, in fact, the PNL’s political program for this year’s campaign, because the PNL has already entered the election campaign. The PNL program aims to impress with its dimensions rather than offer practical solutions. The PNL document is only a summary of what has not been achieved in decades, without the government explaining to us how it will achieve these goals. We did not expect a 10-year megalomaniac program from the government, but a program to get out of the crisis caused by the pandemic and the states of emergency and alert that accompanied it,” reads a post on the party’s Facebook page on Wednesday.
According to ALDE, “a 10-year program, to be credible, should have been the result of dialogue between political forces and the business community, since it is difficult to assume that a single party, be it and the PNL, will govern the country throughout this period”.
ALDE accuses the PNL Government that, after criticizing the Social Democratic Party (PSD)-ALDE government for 3 years, it “copies” its projects.
ALDE recommends PNL to let the economy work, to increase pensions and allowances according to the law, because the increase will generate “an increase in consumption that will keep the real economy alive”, to restore SME INVEST for businesses and not for banks, to use the promised European money “as a guarantee for loans to enter the economy this year,” the reopening of hospitals for all patients and finding a solution for asymptomatic patients to relieve the medical system from those infected, but who do not need treatment, but only monitoring.
Barna: Government’s economic recovery plan – subsidies, old ideas, populism
The Government’s economic recovery plan includes subsidies, “old ideas and a bit of populism,” Save Romania Union (USR) leader Dan Barna said on Wednesday.
“The Government’s economic recovery plan. Subsidies + old ideas and a bit of populism. On whose money? The good part – it’s good that there is still a plan that can be worked on. Romania needs a vision that will limit the crisis or at least to ensure the conditions for a speedy recovery The less good part: a lot of subsidies. Almost no criteria. As it looks now, this plan is a real National Local Development Program on steroids. Where does all this money come from? The metaphor with money from helicopter is adequate, the problem is that we don’t see helicopters full of money anywhere above Romania,” Barna wrote on Facebook.
He claims that “some of the proposals are in fact a reheated soup, some of which are downright toxic,” such as inventing a state investment fund and a state-owned bank.
The USR leader also says that “a lot of investments are announced”, some being “SF”.
Source: Agerpres
