PNL's Citu proposes cross-party pact so that Romania is energy-efficient in 2026

Chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Florin Citu proposes a cross-party pact that would provide for a budget allocation for energy investments, so as to ensure the country's security in the field in 2026.

"We need to address this issue with long-term pragmatic thinking, as we have done in the past. In 2020, the economy was closed for two months and we overcame that crisis and managed to come up with programs that I see are being commended today, one of them is SME Invest. The long-term solutions must take into account, as I said last year, Romania's energy security. I suggest we think of measure that will takes us to Romania's energy security in 2026, one of the measures would be simply to allocate additional funds from the budget, beside the investment programs that all companies have, a percentage that no one can reach and we make a cross-party pact, as we have at the Ministry of Defense, a percentage we should invest in this field in order to make sure that, in 2026, Romania will be secured from the energy point of view," Citu declared on Monday in Parliament.

He said he did not agree with the reduction of VAT only in a certain sector, as in the case of staple foods, as it could create distortions in the economy, which would lead to problems.

Energy will be the only topic to be discussed on Monday's meeting of the governing coalition, the solutions for the current situation generated by the price increase should be presented in this framework and not through the press, the PNL leader said, arguing that the solutions for the current situation generated by the price increases should be presented within this framework and not in the media.

He stressed that he does not agree with exceeding the budget deficit assumed for this year, because there will be problems with inflation.

"On the contrary, I believe we need to be more ambitious for 2022, because otherwise we will have a problem with inflation. Any measure must respect a basic liberal principle - it must be applied in a unified manner to all participants in the economy, not to a certain sector that somebody chooses based on I don't know what criteria and not a penny is to be taken from investments in the budget. (...) Nobody touches investment money, quite the opposite, we need to add more to get to 7 percent. These are the criteria from which we start. (...) At this moment there hasn't been any solution presented in the coalition, as far as I am concerned there have only been political statements in the public sphere, and I do not want to start a statement competition in the public space," said Florin Citu.