Chamber of Deputies debates motion initiated by PSD against Minister of Investments and European Projects

The simple motion against the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Cristian Ghinea, submitted by PSD (Social Democratic Party) is being debated on Monday in the Chamber of Deputies, and the vote will be cast on Tuesday, agerpres reports.

The motion, titled "Cristian Ghinea - from zero to abyss", signed by 82 PSD deputies, was submitted last Wednesday in the plenum.

In the motion, PSD says that the immediate dismissal of the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Cristian Ghinea, is necessary, because he displayed "managerial dilettantism", and that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) "is a disaster" and "will destroy Romania for the next 5 years".

"What curse was cast on this country, that the one who buried the European funds in 2016 to pencil in the billions of Euro promised by Iohannis, which he will grind to dust! The signals are clear: Every day with Ghinea at the helm (of MIPE, ed. n.) means immense losses from European funds and a dive in the abyss of austerity. The current absorption rate has reached rock bottom, the PNRR is a disaster, and programs from the 2021-2027 Financial Framework do not exist, not even on paper. Every day, Romania is losing a lot of money because of Minister Ghinea's incompetence," the PSD says.

According to the social-democrats, Minister Ghinea is guilty of reducing allocation intended for Romania in the PNRR.

"In December 2020, when Mr. Ghinea was appointed Minister, the allocation for the PNRR was 30.5 billion Euro. Six months later, on May 31, 2021, when, after two setbacks, Cristian Ghinea submitted the third option of PNRR to Brussels, allocation for Romania was being reduced to 29.2 billion Euro. In other words, he did not even breathe and 1.3 billion Euro have evaporated. Another 2 billion Euro disappeared from future funds for cohesion, where Romania was left with approximately 28 billion Euro from the 30 billion Euro in December 2020," the motion says.

According to PSD, the plan submitted in Brussels by the current power "destroys" Romania for the next 5 years, and "the entire society" is criticizing it.

"Both the economic environment, as well as the academic or civic ones have criticized this plan. It is for the first time in history when a national program is criticized by the entire society, and the Government is defying everyone and submits a document which destroys, rather than develops. PNRR, which should have developed Romania and determined the growth of the living standard of Romanians, was confiscated for purely economic reasons of some clientele groups of the governing. Minister Ghinea nonchalantly admitted that he did not read the entire plan that he sent to Brussels, after keeping it a secret. He was not even interested in what he is submitting, apart from the pages in which he stated impressive allocations for the relatives or own companies or for administrations led by the representatives of the current political power," the social-democrats also say.

They also say that through the PNRR, the Romanians are left with austerity, increase in retirement age, freezing incomes: salaries, pensions, allowances.