Participarea premierului Marcel Ciolacu la Conferința de lansare a proiectului „RO 3.0. Viziunea Viitorului”

Speech by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu at the launch conference of the RO 3.0. Vision of the Future project

Marcel Ciolacu: First of all, I would like to congratulate you on initiating such a debate. I believe that in any normal society, especially as everything is changing in a dynamic way we have not been used to until now, regarding the present, we must acknowledge that it is a consequence of the past. That is the truth. The only thing we can change is the future, as you also mentioned. We have two major challenges ahead: the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), which means both financial resources and, most importantly, substantial reforms, not just formal ones. I think these are the toughest reforms to implement in post-December Romania. And, from my point of view, the greatest challenge ahead is: accession to the OECD. Both, we could say, can form a country plan for Romania.
We must consider the external context, security crises, energy crises, and we must learn, from the last 2-3 years, including the pandemic, what the real challenges are. The government must be much more effective. To be so, it must reorganize and restructure because, during the pandemic and the energy crisis, it was evident that it did not rise to the real challenges and tried to make decisions without having fundamental information. Many decisions were late, many decisions, as we say, were rushed. So, along with the NRRP reforms, we will have to see what the priorities are.
Investments have proven that we could withstand economic decline. Romania, through massive investments in the last two years, managed to reach a situation when the investments are larger than the deficit. It seems to be about 59 billion, an argument with which you negotiate with the European Commission. We did not run a deficit, in other words, for consumption. Romanias economic growth in the first quarter, as small as it was: 0.1%, was due to investments. And we have investments in transport, where we must admit that the big construction sites were unlocked in the last period, in the last two years, and it got into a rhythm, we finally have the first thousand kilometers and by the end of next year there is a clear perspective of another 250 kilometers, thats just the road. In the next 5-7 years, we definitely have to finish another 1,000 kilometers
This year and early next year, the first new trains after the Revolution will arrive. This is the Romanian reality. Finally, we are changing the metro trains; this is part of the PNRR and part of a well-established plan.
We have investments in health, the big promises of politicians, with regional hospitals, burn hospitals. Finally, they have gotten on the right track regarding the EIB investments complementary to those under the PNRR, where you only get funding if you have a well-established plan. Major investments are also made in education, both in classical education and especially in dual education. It is the first time there are centers. We know very well that they developed primarily in the Transylvania region, where there was infrastructure, and of course, investments came first. But it is the first time that, with the completion of the Moldova Highway, we have dual education centers in the Moldova region, from where we had the largest migration of Romanians and labor force, in fact, toward the rest of Europe.
Adrian Ursu: However, in 2024 being an election year, you know that the great fear concerns failure in covering budget gaps, and we know there are many, cuts will be made, especially in investments. Thats where the sacrifice will be, because you cannot afford not to pay pensions and salaries.
Marcel Ciolacu: We will maintain the pace; we will reach a minimum of 7% allocated to investments from the budget... It will truly be a larger component on European funds because, effectively, you couldnt have mature projects on the PNRR except for major infrastructure—minister Grindeanu handled that well because the projects had not been submitted, and there was no time to prepare them. However, they will mature by 2024-2025, and actual payments will begin. We also have the 2021 financial exercise, the current one. All the measures we took, some discussed, commented on—we announced very clearly that they would not affect ordinary people—were taken to close the previous financial exercise because we had to come up with a 15% co-financing. We know there was co-financing because materials became more expensive for every authority, every company involved in projects in the previous financial exercise. I can say this with modesty, for you know to know.
I closed the last financial exercise at 54% in direct payments that year. We will close over 90%, the first time in Romania, but it really required—a well-organized Romania because we do not have digitalization. Here is the great challenge. I, as prime minister, do not have information as fast as needed to be effective and make real-time decisions. As the National Tax Administration Agency (ANAF) and the healthcare system are not digitalized yet, we cannot see efficiency; we cannot see where money is wasted in the system—and the major expenses are in these sectors. In education, the school dropout trend is clear. We will provide hot meals, scholarships; we will increase salaries for teachers to attract better-educated people for our childrens education, and major NRRP investments in the entire infrastructure. There are costs. In my opinion, we will surpass, for the first time, with a direct budget, with four digits in front, in education and with indirect expenses in local administration.
I believe we will reach an execution rate of about 6% at the end of the year because this is the future. This future, like in football, like in sports, like in anything else, will be seen in five to ten years, but we cannot wait any longer. The accession to the OECD and the PNRR, the reforms, push us into this dynamic. If we miss it now, Romania is a lost state.
Adrian Ursu: There are costs, as you mentioned, and undoubtedly, costs need to be offset by revenues. Everyone is waiting for your response to the question: if you promised not to make any fiscal changes in 2024, meaning additional taxes or increased taxes, does that mean a big change is coming in 2025?
Marcel Ciolacu: First, the Romanian state must fulfill its responsabilities. The Romanian state must combat tax evasion, be much more effective in collection, and everyone must pay their taxes. This means the digitalization of ANAF, to see where the budgetary sources for major expenditure are and to cut through the red tape once and for all because all projects require certain approvals. At this moment, each ministry will create a unique approval service, whether we are talking about companies, central authorities, local authorities, or individuals who want access to European funds. There must be a single service, and somehow, you push for this digitalization.
Adrian Ursu: For business people, there are here representatives of the most powerful companies in the field of communication and technology, private healthcare, retail, energy, construction, and development, also representatives of academic environment, public and private. What is the message you would convey to them for the horizon 2030? Where do you see Romania in 2030 economically, and how do you see the life of every citizen? How much will it be changed in six years?
Marcel Ciolacu: Very much. When there is a war, there is always economic espionage which reaches other limits than in peace times. Everything is developing much faster. Artificial intelligence has appeared. We see the minor things on TikTok, on Facebook, with the fake news, but the background is much more... and the challenge is much bigger than we quantify it at present. We must have a plan to take into account the regional and global context, and the current security crises and hope that there will be no more, and we must have a plan of ours, of Romania.
First of all, we have to cover, apart from the debts that the Romanian state has towards the citizens, in terms of health, education, infrastructure, we will have major investments in energy and I am glad that the actors, the representatives of the biggest companies are here with you. With the gas from the Black Sea, with the investments from reactors 3 and 4, I am firmly convinced that the new management at Hidroelectrica will complete projects started and abandoned for decades for reasons that no one understood. It is a mix of energy and we will definitely transform us with offshore and onshore wind, and nuclear energy, with Units 3 and 4. Investments in hydro with this energy mix will transform us into a regional hub in this field, following, then, to develop all the infrastructure and interconnection with the Republic of Moldova, to increase the degree of interconnection with Europe. We have one of the highest, as far as I know, compared to Spain we have tens of times more. Energy and resources will be a challenge of the future. And it can be seen that we have had direct investments in the last two years, the largest in Romanias history, it can be seen that Romania is becoming and has a stable perspective in terms of energy. Otherwise, big investors dont come. The reconstruction of Ukraine will ensue and we must become a hub. Thats why I insist a lot on the development of construction materials production, where we still import 50% of Romanias needs. Lets see what will happen with the reconstruction of Ukraine! We decreased the trade deficit for the first time in many years, by almost 4.6 billion euros. We have the highest deficit in food products and the state must come up with aid schemes for food production in Romania and even export it. So we have a program and we know the figures at present. I would like more figures from the area of finance and the health system.
Adrian Ursu: When digitalization will be more extensive, you will receive them even faster, probably, you will have them all. Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister.

Source: Gov