Romania Lower Chamber Rejects Liberals’ Simple Motion On Austerity Measures

During debates in the Chamber, opposition social democrats announced they would uphold the motion. Ruling democrat liberals and liberals accused each other for the country’s current economic situation.

The initiators of the simple motion called on the finance minister to draw up a draft revised budget to transparently show the way in which the austerity measures will be applied and their impact on the population. They also demanded that the draft revised budget be debated in Parliament with urgency.

Romania, which has been hit by the deepest recession in at least 20 years, has pledged to bring the budget deficit to 6.8% of the gross domestic product under the terms of a EUR20 billion IMF-led rescue loan agreed last year. The Government this weekend adopted two draft laws that make up its austerity measures, which include reducing pensions by 15% and state employees’ salaries by 25%.