PSD's Ciolacu: For the first time in 30 years opposition party comes up with alternative budget

National chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu said on Wednesday that the Social Democrats had drafted a national budget proposal because they wanted the population to know the alternative to "austerity" proposed by the incumbent government.

"We were asked what the purpose of this alternative budget is, why we made this effort to build it and to present it, perhaps rightly so, because we do not have the parliamentary majority at this moment to pass this budget through the Romanian Parliament. I know it sounds strange, but this is the first time in 30 years that the opposition party has come up before the media and citizens with an alternative budget proposal. We believe that citizens need to know the truth, to know what the alternative to austerity is. We believe that people have not only voted for us to criticize the incumbent government; people have voted for us to come up with solutions, and today we are putting up for public debate actual solutions to increase the living standards of the citizens. (...) We are inviting the government to plagiarise us; it would not be for the first time when it copies certain solutions from PSD, but if they are in the interest of the Romanians, they don't really bother us at all," Ciolacu told a news conference held by PSD for the unveiling of their alternative national budget for 2021.

He added that, at the same time, PSD, by presenting an alternative budget, wants to dismantle the "lies" of the Government.

"We show them today that, if you want, if you are interested in the lives of the people you lead, not only in divvying up offices, (...) major problems facing Romania today can be overcome. (...) For the first time in the last 30 years, the budget implementation of the previous year, for 2020, was not published before January 25. The legal deadline has already been exceeded by two days by the Citu - Orban tandem. (...) The utmost priority this year remains the fight against the pandemic and the health crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. (...) Economic recovery is the second major goal," said Ciolacu.