Romanian President Pledges Not To Promulgate Two Controversial Bills

According to the sources, Basescu said he will send the two bills back to the Parliament.

Romania's Chamber of Deputies adopted last week two bills, one setting the value added tax on basic foods, such as bread, milk, meat, sugar and vegetable oil, at 5% instead of 24%, and another exempting pensions lower than RON2,000 lei from income taxes. Both bills had been previously rejected by the Senate, and the lower house had the final say on the matter.

Basescu said Monday the two bills had not yet been sent to him for promulgation.

An IMF mission is currently in Bucharest to review Romania's progress under the stand-by arrangement, which was approved in May 2009. The IMF loan is part of a larger financial package that also includes funds from the European Commission, the World Bank and other international lenders.

Romania received so far around EUR11.5 billion in IMF money and EUR3.6 billion from the EU. According to the terms of the IMF deal, the country should receive mid-December the seventh installment worth some EUR870 million.

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