Florin Citu: 2021 budget to be completed and presented by future gov't

The budget for next year will be completed by the new Government, Minister of Finance and National Liberal Party (PNL) candidate for the position of Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Sunday, pointing out that, after the negotiations for the majority coalition, new projects will be announced and some fund reallocations will be made for next year.

He showed that there should be more tripartite discussions with the employers and trade unions regarding the minimum wage in the economy, as the Ministry of Finance is taking into account several options.

"We have seen some estimates, we have not all agreed on the same formula. In the new governing coalition we will have a variant that we will present, I hope, as soon as possible. We must finish the negotiations as soon as possible, to have a government installed to have the power to negotiate. If we have a government, we will also know what will happen to the minimum wage on January 1. (...) The impact will be on the next government. It would be somewhat dishonest for this government to make a decision for the next government, therefore we did not make any decision regarding the budget," Citu explained, at the Parliament Palace.

The Minister added that the need for each ministry is known, but reallocations will have to be made according to the new projects that will appear in the governance programme.

"Of course we know exactly what is needed for each ministry, why it is needed, what projects need to be funded, as we have it today. After the negotiations are completed, we will have the new projects that appear with this governance programme and then some reallocations in the budget for next year will be performed, but there are no big differences. We will continue a large part of the projects started in 2020, they remain in the governance programme for 2021-2024," explained Florin Citu.

According to him, the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR) - the Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity (PLUS) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) hope that the new Government will be installed by December 27, that is why the negotiations are taking place "from dusk till dawn."