Ciuca:There is no money to settle the protesters' wage demands by the end of the year

The president of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Nicolae Ciuca, said on Friday, in Timisoara, that until the end of this year, there are no financial resources to meet the salary demands of the categories of public sector employees who have been protesting in recent weeks.At the same time, the PNL leader said that there is no risk of breaking the governing coalition on the subject of the introduction of new taxes and duties next year because this "red line" has been discussed and agreed and will not be crossed."Currently, work is being done at the level of each ministry on the budget limits that were distributed by the Ministry of Finance, so that the budget construction for next year can cover both the part of financing investments and the part of budget expenses, including the salary envelope. The way the decision will be made at the Government level will probably be finalized by having all the figures on the table and then making a decision. At the moment, it is clear that there is no money to settle the wage claims by the end of the year," said Nicolae Ciuca.As to progressive taxation, the PNL leader explained that at the moment we cannot talk about a single quota, as taxation has different values for certain categories of income."Today, we are not talking about a flat tax rate, because we have a profit tax of 16%, an income tax of 10%, and a dividend tax of 8%. As such, not having a single rate and still having room for work for the single quota, not exhausting its source to produce the effects in this sense, we continue to go for the single quota. (...) There are no reasons to break the coalition with the PSD in terms of taking fiscal measures. The red line about which we discussed, and I think we agreed, because that is why we are in a coalition and we have assumed a responsibility, it is related to new taxes and fees next year, and we will not cross this line," emphasized Nicolae Ciuca.The PNL president met on Friday, at the Timis County Council, with the PNL mayors from the county, where issues related to local investments were discussed.