Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Tuesday that some parties in the ruling coalition want to play the role of the opposition within the government, which affects the public trust in the governing coalition.
"You can't have development, you can't have predictable policies, you can't improve your confidence rating if you don't have stability in the coalition. And it is not very comfortable to have four parties in the coalition, with complicated histories, with conflicts between them, some of which also want to play the role of the opposition within the government," the prime minister told RFI Romania.
He added that, from a human point of view, it is not "very comfortable" to talk to people who during meetings "behave absolutely rationally" and then behave "totally differently" on television or in public statements. He said that during this period he tried "not to fuel these conflicts," but to focus on solving economic problems.
"But, obviously, this type of collaboration, in which there are constantly formulas of criticism, of trying to get out of any area of responsibility that would sound bad, of bonusing only the things that sound good in the government, I don't think it brings any gain either to those who do this or to the perception of stability in our country. Think about it, when someone looks at what is being stated in the public space, if they did not participate in the coalition meetings, they would think that we have gouged out our eyes there," Bolojan said.
He added that attacks "that go beyond a certain limit" affect the "perception of stability" and the results of the Government, including the work of ministers.
Asked if he rules out the option of a minority government, the prime minister replied that the country needs stability, predictable policies and responsible behaviour on the part of political parties.
"I had, before this interview, a meeting with the rating agency Fitch and obviously part of the indicators according to which these agencies give a rating is stability of the government, it is related to what will happen this year, what happens next year. So it is very important for us to be aware that any kind of gratuitous scandal in a coalition area, just to promote yourself internally, just to try to position yourself in one form or another, has a cost, which directly or indirectly our country and our citizens pay in the form of interest, in the form of decisions that could have been taken yesterday and not the day after tomorrow and so on."
Bolojan pointed to the importance of observing the governing protocol. According to him, political leaders who attack each other and then appear "in a smiling picture" affect citizens' confidence in the solidity and predictability of some measures.
"If he had respected the governing program, we would be in a situation where many measures that are not adopted today would have already been adopted. Many things that were adopted in one form would have been adopted in another form. This is not about making cuts, this is not about austerity policies. It is simply a matter of accountability policies. You cannot spend what you do not have, and you cannot spend funds in areas that do not bring advantage to this country, but, on the contrary, create a lot of problems."
The PM added that the coalition members have three "important" responsibilities now: adjusting budget spending, measures for economic recovery and maintaining the stability of the coalition.
"The adjustment measures certainly have an economic contraction effect and a slight inflationary effect. Therefore, it is important, on the one hand, to reduce the inflation rate, and the target for this year is to reduce inflation to 4-4.5% towards the end of the year - we certainly have, in recent months, a downward trend. And also, to put Romania's economy on a healthier footing: to have more people in the economy, to have a stronger energy system that produces more energy and cheaper energy for companies and for the population, to support our exports and value-added areas," said Bolojan.
Comentează