Ciolos, about draft budget: Pensions, salaries, investments go up; then, where is austerity?

The Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity Alliance (USR PLUS) co-president Dacian Ciolos on Sunday rejected the hypothesis that the 2021 budget would be an austerity one, noting that pensions and salaries will increase based on previous decisions, and investments will go up as well.

"It has already been decided to increase the pensions, which will apply from 2021, so the pension in 2021 will be higher than the pension in 2020. The basic salary will increase as well. (...) We have bigger investments than projected last year. And then, how can we talk about an austerity budget," Ciolos said on Prima TV.

He stressed that the budget is not an austerity one, but it no longer brings "populist measures" and emphasizes the relaunch of economic activity.

"Pensions are rising, salaries are going up, investments that will create jobs increase as well. So where is the austerity? (...) That is the Government's goal - to relaunch the economy without affecting the socio-professional categories that need resources," he added.

On the other hand, Ciolos showed that he would discuss with the Prime Minister Florin Citu about the financing for healthcare.

"We will see what the final budget for both education and healthcare will be. (...) These vaccines have to be paid for. It is the whole part of the vaccination campaign that needs to be covered, I even talked to Minister Vlad Voiculescu and in these sectors, we need to find solutions", added Dacian Ciolos.