ALDE's Vosganian: EC forecast for Romania in 2020 is exceedingly alarming

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) Spokesman Varujan Vosganian has stated on Wednesday that from the perspective of recession and budget unbalances, Romania seems to be the most affected economy in the European Union, the European Commission forecast for 2020 being "exceedingly alarming."

"The European Commission forecast for Romania in 2020 is exceedingly alarming. The Gross Domestic Product would drop by 6 percent, and the budget deficit would risk increasing to over 9 percent of the GDP. This forecast confirms that of the International Monetary Fund. From the perspective of recession and budget unbalances, Romania seems to be the most affected economy in the European Union. These forecasts show that the Government has built the budget revision on a totally unrealistic basis, and the Prime Minister's statements according to which 'compared to the forecasts of some analysts regarding economic collapse, things are way better than expected' and those [statements] of the Finance Minister who says 'the pressure on the budget is not big. Things are OK' can be seen as downright irresponsible," Vosganian wrote on his Facebook page.

According to the ALDE deputy, the economic "reality" and the forecasts lead to the conclusion that the economic recovery measures can no longer wait.

"In the fight with the epidemic consequences we cannot be content with passive, reactive measures, but we must get out of the trenches, with clear measures of economic recovery. These entail mobilisation, by all means, starting from securities issues to converting European funds to support economy, of some resources comparable to the level of recession, in order to counteract these trends. Through political consensus, as soon as possible, we must assume a national programme for large infrastructure which establishes priority objectives to be financed as a matter of urgency, from major hydropower and irrigation systems to motorways and fast railways. These are the real themes of the nation, not those invented by the president and his supporters, and which revive nationalist fanaticisms or laudatory nostalgia against the abuses of former chiefs of Prosecutor's Office," Varujan Vosganian added.

Romania will register a significant drop of 6 percent in 2020 after many years of robust growth, whereas the government deficit is forecast to increase to around 9.2 percent of the GDP in 2020, according to the European Economic Forecast - Spring 2020, published by the European Commission (CE) on Wednesday.