Romanian Parliament Raises Heating Aid Ceiling Back To RON615

Hungarian minority party lawmaker Kerekes Karoly said acting Prime Minister Emil Boc „begged” lawmakers to increase the heating aid ceiling, though he had previously slashed it.

Social democrat lawmaker Mircea Dusa said that, by adopting the ordinance increasing heating aid ceiling to RON615, the Parliament corrected a big mistake made by the Government.

Romanian senators unanimously decided late October to raise the ceiling for state subsidy for heating bills to an income of RON615 per family member after the government had slashed it to RON425, and the Chamber of Deputies was expected to make a final decision in this respect.

Early October, the government slashed the ceiling to RON425 citing the economic crisis and said the measure would help save RON317 million of public money. Prime Minister Emil Boc said a week later the government changed its mind and decided to keep the initial ceiling of RON615 per family member.