BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Romania’s broad coalition government survived four back-to-back no confidence votes on Sunday, allowing it to push through deficit-lowering tax hikes and spending cuts that have angered public sector workers and raised the prospect of strikes.
The four-party coalition government must lower the highest budget deficit in the European Union to avert a ratings downgrade from the last rung of investment grade and unlock billions of euros worth of recovery funds from Brussels.
Earlier this month it sent five legislative packages to parliament with a budget impact of roughly 10.6 billion lei ($2.45 billion), fast-tracking their approval in a procedure which sidesteps lengthy debates but leaves the cabinet open to no confidence votes.
“Our objectives are simple,” Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan told lawmakers.
“To lower the budget deficit as close to 6% of economic output in 2026 as possible, to tap EU funds and allot resources for public investment and to … resettle values in Romania on moral principles.”
The far-right opposition have challenged four of the five packages, and on Sunday parliament, in which the ruling coalition controls about 70% of seats, voted against all four.
The government is also facing public sector strikes and strong opposition to spending cuts from within its own ranks.
The bills can still be challenged at the Constitutional Court, and one of the packages, which gradually raises the retirement age for judges and prosecutors, has already been contested by the judiciary.
The government chose to split the measures into five packages to avoid having all of them struck down by the top court in one go.
The four coalition parties have yet to agree on a separate bill seeking to cut some 13,000 jobs in local public administration.
The government will also seek to cut central administration jobs later this year.
($1 = 4.3289 lei)
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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