Marcel Ciolacu: Good afternoon. This Cabinet meeting takes place after our U.S. visit, a very relevant one, as I managed together with my colleagues to set the premises for Romania to become an investment and logistic support hub for large American projects in this region of Europe. There is major potential for American investment in energy and digital technologies, and the United States strategic interest in the Black Sea area means a huge development opportunity for the Constanta port. We are duty-bound now to capitalize on these unprecedented opportunities.
Regarding energy and the winter season, we allocated today the necessary amounts for a smooth operation of the public heating service in the centralized system. In parallel, I request Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja to carefully look into what is happening with the gas price. I have seen there are cases of suppliers who increased prices in an unsubstantiated manner, given that prices fell across Europe. It is right that these increases cannot be seen in the population's bills, as they are capped. However, these companies request the state to pay them the difference to the capped price. Thats why I ask you to check the situation and I hope that the ANRE will analyze it as well.
On the other hand, I have noticed that, in my absence, the Minister of Finance was again busy with debunking supposed tax measures that do not exist for 2024. What exists, however, is the data on GDP growth in the first nine months of this year. We have an advance of 2.2%, with which we rank third in Europe. Growth in the third quarter was solid and further supported by major public investments, which is why today we will supplement the funds for the Ministry of Development to allow the completion of all the investments foreseen for this year.
I announce you that this weekend, we will work together on the 2024 draft budget, where investments are the foundation of our economic development outlook. Romania will also have the largest budget allocation for education in history. This I wanted to mention to make it clear to everyone.
But, especially after Romanias results in the PISA tests, I requested Minister Deca to come up with solutions regarding the performance criteria in education. Any expenditure must also be accompanied by reform and should result in performance. We cannot expect a miracle to happen just by increasing wages, because nothing will happen this time either. So, performance criteria must be introduced according to which wages will increase.
I have the same requirements for health, where at present, we are still allocating almost 200 million lei for hospital expenditures. I expect the management of the National Health Insurance House to come up with a clear and effective cost-reporting system, with clear criteria for the amounts allocated to each health program. You cannot have a budget of 12 billion euros and not know in real time where the money is going.
At the same time, today we also adopt an emergency ordinance whereby we submit the necessary legislative changes to eliminate all nonsense in the operation of LPG installations. As promised after the Crevedia tragedy, we carefully regulate every link in this chain, related to licensing, verification, and compliance with safety regulations. I conclude with an express request to the president of the National Sports Agency and the president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee. I look forward to their submitting this weekend a coherent proposal to secure funding for Romanias gymnastics team that qualified for the Olympics, not only to participate but also to successfully compete for medals. The treatment to which this team that made history in world sport has been subjected is unthinkable. Thank you!
Source: Gov
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