Alocuțiunea premierului Marcel Ciolacu la prezentarea în Parlament a proiectului Legii bugetului de stat pe anul 2024 și a proiectului Legii bugetului asigurărilor sociale de stat pe anul 2024

Address by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu at the presentation in Parliament of the draft state budget law and draft social security budget law for 2024

Dear President of the Senate,
Dear Interim Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies,
Dear Ministers,
Dear lawmakers,
Dear colleagues,

The budget for the year 2024 is a budget for development and equity. A budget based on investments and social justice is a budget in which economic growth is found in the increase in the populations living standards.
At the same time, the budget that I propose to you today is a budget that will face the immediate challenges, in the short term, but that will also lay the foundations for our success, in the long term. A budget that will help us get through these difficult times, but will also prepare Romania for the huge opportunities ahead.
The strategic directions on which the budget for 2024 is based:
A coherent economic strategy, to attain next year the second highest economic growth in the European Union, of 3.4%.
Record investments of over 7% of GDP, more precisely 120 billion lei from the budget, European funds, and PNRR. Practically, an increase of 27 billion compared to this year and double compared to 2021, when there were only 59 billion lei.
Increase in income for 12 million citizens: pensioners, employees on minimum wage, teachers, or public administration personnel.
A stronger economic environment, by accessing aid schemes for the development and creation of new jobs, but, at the same time, a fair economic environment, with real competition, with fewer exemptions and tax incentives.
A concrete plan of ordering budget expenditure and a package of measures to increase collection and effectively combat tax evasion
A firm guarantee for the security of citizens, in the context of the border war, by allocating a budget of 2.5% of GDP for Defense.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I take this opportunity to address first the Romanians who are awaiting answers about how their life will look like in these difficult times.
I also address our government partners alongside whom I worked, the PSD colleagues, and all people with common sense present here.
First, taxes will not increase in 2024!
I have seen too much panic in the attacks launched on the draft budget.
I admit in front of you that I have no expectations from a party whose policy is promoting political circus. Here things are clear. You have no real economic solution! You want to push the country towards NATO and EU exit!
I propose the easiest way for you: declare war on Russia and then surrender. You only generate scandal and cheap populism! You want to destroy everything and put nothing back!
But I admit, you surprised me. You have now remembered pensioners and employees, although, when you were in government, you gave zero lei to pensions and 1 billion euros to vaccines! And you increased the minimum wage by exactly 40 lei. That was your government! A mockery!
You are the ones who forgot how you inserted the 9.4 percent of GDP into the NRRP. Have you forgotten how you condemned all Romanian pensioners to a pension freeze until 2070?!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have eliminated this percentage, even though you said it was impossible! You lied! Just as you lied to the Romanians when you pretended to observe the rule of law and the judiciary. All your principles were over the moment you saw the DNA(National Anticorruption Directorate) on the inside!
I know that some of you are bothered by this draft budget. We have different visions on Romanias development, but I officially announce to you that the 2024 budget does not contain any rapprochement with Russia, nor the billion euros for vaccines!
Instead, the Government I am leading is working to have privileged economic relations with the European Union and for the United States to become Romanias main economic partner outside the EU.
Yes, we want the increase of foreign investments, but with Germany and our strategic partners - USA, France, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Israel, Turkey and South Korea.
Moreover, the current Government is working for Romania to become, in the shortest time possible, a member of the Schengen Area, because thats where it belongs because Romanians deserve dignity and equal treatment!
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear colleagues,
I am fully aware of the fact that the main economic challenges for next year will be inflation and maintaining macroeconomic balances.
Inflation is what increases the cost of living, Romanians bank installments, and erodes their purchasing power. This budget is therefore carefully calibrated to mitigate inflationary pressures.
We have already demonstrated that we know how to combat this phenomenon. When I took office at Victoria Palace, inflation stood at 10.6%, having peaked at 16.8% in November 2022. Presently, we have brought inflation to a single digit, 6.7%, and next year we want to bring it to 4.6%. We will work closely with the National Bank (BNR) on this. Likewise, to have a stable exchange rate and reduce the trade balance deficit, as we managed to reduce it by 5.2 billion euros this year. Because this is the right direction!
At the same time, we will extend the two fundamental measures that led to the decrease in inflation: capping energy and gas prices and capping markups to the 21 basic food categories.
Next year, no Romanian will pay more on their bills! Two years of total failure of national energy policies, which culminated in the liberalization of energy prices amid a pandemic, was the strongest attack on Romanians and the Romanian business sector.
If we didnt take measures, the population would be left in the dark and cold, and much of the industry would shut down. Today, we have the most generous energy capping scheme in Europe, because it covers the largest part of the population and the economy. We will continue to do this next year! We allocated the money in the budget for the capping scheme to go ahead.
At the same time, we will continue to invest massively so that Romanians have access to cheaper energy. The program regarding the solar panels installation does not change! Romanians will still be able to access grants of 20 thousand lei for cheaper energy.
In addition, we negotiated in the NRRP- through the RePower EU Program - a budget of 1.4 billion euros through which we will finance tens of thousands of Romanians, mostly from rural areas, to become energy independent. It is the most ambitious household modernization program in the history of Romania!
In parallel, we will also extend the measure regarding the capping of markups to 21 basic food categories. Furthermore, I informed all holders of food cards that they will work next year as well, they will be reloaded with 250 lei every two months, just like this year.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Stopping the economic decline was the first thing we had to do. However, Romanians are still feeling the economic shocks of recent years. That is why the budget construction for 2024 foresees income increases for more than 12 million citizens. We have over 40 billion lei in the budget in addition to increasing pensions, salaries, and allowances, but also for those in need!
At the same time, this Government will do justice to pensioners! For the first time, next year we will have two substantial increases in pensions. Indexation by 13.8% - from January 1 and recalculation - from September 1.
Thus, the average pension will increase next year from 2,100 lei to over 2,800 lei. If we refer to the time of our entry into government, we reach a growth of more than double, compared to the 30% inflation of the period 2022-2024.
We will also do justice to the teachers and we will observe next year all the commitments we made to them. Every one of them, as promised!
We will also continue to rapidly increase the minimum wage. We will maintain the 200 lei tax-free incentive until July 1, when the minimum wage will reach 3,700 lei gross.
Since taking office, we have said that we must get closer, as quickly as possible, to the European minimum wage. Thats why I want the minimum wage to be 4,000 lei in Romania from January 1, 2025. Also, the average net salary will be 954 euros in 2024, compared to 694 euros in 2021.
I want to be very clear: fair wages are not the issue they are part of the solution. Significant wage growth is fundamental in an economy that remunerates people for their work! And it is the only way to keep our skilled workforce in the country, and also to persuade those who left to return. Thats why I will always support the people who work and contribute to the development of this country!
Ladies and gentlemen,
Rising salaries, pensions, and aid for vulnerable categories are essential measures to support Romanians under pressure. Nevertheless, the best long - term guarantee of an increase in living standards and prosperity is an economy to produce more and better!
This is why the 2024 budget is built around economic patriotism, aimed at domestic production increase, stimulating investments, and creating new jobs here, in Romania.
By the way, next year, investments will generate half of the economic growth and will have a growth rate twice the consumption rate. In other words, the same as this year, we will have an economy that will grow on investments, not on consumption. To attain this, we decided to prioritize investments. We do not waste money on tens of thousands of projects started but never finalized. For 2024, we selected more than 150 important investment projects, out of which: 108 at Transports and Infrastructure, 21 at the Development Ministry, 13 at the Environment, and 9 at Health. As an amount, 91 percent of the money will be earmarked for Infrastructure, which means an incredible leap in Romania's development.
In addition to Infrastructure, the other two strategic areas in which we will considerably invest in 2024 will be Education and Healthcare.
We have the largest budgetary allocation for Education in history, of 4.1 percent of GDP, an extra 22 billion lei compared to 2023 budgetary implementation, and an extra 61 percent.
After many years of being the Cinderella of the budget, 2024 will finally be the year of Education. More than 12 billion lei will be invested in the educational infrastructure from the NRPP alone. We are also allocating a budget of 1.14 billion to ensure hot meals for students in almost 1,000 school units.
On the other hand, in Health we will have an increase of 44%, i.e. 5.8 billion lei more, compared to the execution in 2023. I do not want to encounter any more situations in which hospitals remain without funding and the sick do not have access to treatment.
At the same time, I dont want low-income people to have to choose between medicine and food anymore. That is why we will invest massively in family doctors, but we will also continue the construction of hospitals through the NRRP, to increase peoples access to quality medical services. And, who dares to take a bribe to do his job, has to be punished extremely harshly!
Dear colleagues,
The 2024 budget is built on policies and programs. All funding has been allocated only after a careful analysis of the plus that investment brought to Romania's people, companies, and overall economy. We went past the time when the budget was established first and later we decided what to do with it. I put the expenditure in order and led the money there where it was necessary to produce added value.
This will allow us to create next year more than 80,000 new jobs. All aid schemes will be conditioned by this.
Speaking of state aid schemes, I announce to you that we set a ceiling for guarantees of 40 billion lei to support the SMEs activity.
We will also introduce a 2.5 billion lei scheme to stimulate high-tech investments and a 2.6 billion lei budget for aid schemes for the manufacturing industry, the construction materials industry, Start-Up Nation, and the Woman Entrepreneur program.
Also next year, we want to continue stimulating investments in food processing and processing, the production of pork and poultry, and vegetables, but also subsidizing diesel in agriculture through allocations of over 2.2 billion lei, alongside investments of over 2.5 billion lei in irrigation.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I have heard voices saying that this budget is unrealistic. They are the same people who said that we should not increase pensions and that we should not give higher allowances and salaries. Or that we shouldnt overtax the banks, multinationals, or companies that make money from oil. These are the same voices that do not utter a word about the huge evasion that exists in Romania, of over 160 billion lei.
The tax evasionists are the ones who steal childrens money, teachers money, pensioners money, and investment money. Some tell you on TV that its bad and the apocalypse is coming, while they book their next luxury vacation.
I give them bad news: next year we will implement the most ambitious plan to combat tax evasion in the history of this country! From improving collection, reducing tax evasion, and ANAF digitalization, we will bring an extra 1% to the budget, i.e. over 17 billion lei. In other words, we will take from the pockets of the smart guys to build roads, schools, and hospitals!
The budget deficit will be 5% of GDP next year, we will make a budget consolidation of almost 1% of GDP, above the budget rule that provides for a minimum adjustment of 0.5 percentage points of GDP. This will allow us to reach 3% of GDP in the medium term.
But the most important change is that we will stop the governing on debt model. Public debt will decrease to 48.7% of GDP in 2024, well below the 60% threshold set by the European Union.
The proposed budget ensures the balance between stimulating economic growth and the need for budgetary consolidation, investments in infrastructure, and human capital, between stimulating companies and ensuring decent living standards for Romanians.
It is a budget for modernization and development, not for austerity. Austerity will only be in terms of budget expenditure. Overlapping institutions, unjustified management positions, double-price purchases, and certain insensible increments must disappear.
I am not at all impressed by those who only loudly trumpet reforms but never do them. I am determined to complete the reform of the budget apparatus next year. But I want things to be settled, not overnight. We cant change from one day to another a system that has worked like this for 30 years. We need order and restraint.
We propose a budget in which the economy moves, money circulates, people have work, and a budget focused on investments to continue economic growth.
I propose a budget that works for everyone, in which no one is left behind, and in which everyone enjoys equal opportunities. For all these reasons, I confidently recommend that you vote for Romanias state budget for 2024. lets make Romania a country the way we all want it! May God help us! Thank you very much.

Source: Gov