In Brussels , Finance Minister presents to EU Commissioner for Economy Gov't measures for public finance sustainability

The Minister of Finance, Adrian Caciu, has met, on Tuesday, in Brussels, the European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, to whom he presented the budget measures taken by the Government in the context of ensuring the sustainability of public finances and the proposals for the modernizing the tax policy.According to a release of the Finance Ministry, sent on Tuesday, the meeting between the two officials took place on the sidelines of the ECOFIN Council in Brussels.The Finance Minister has emphasized respecting the commitment regarding the adoption in due time of the budget for 2022, its form managing to avoid the premature withdrawal of budget support for managing the effects of the pandemic crisis and to create, at the same time, fiscal space.Adrian Caciu pleaded to reach a balance between maintaining the commitment of Romania to return to the limits of the Stability and Growth Pact in 2024 and the gradual accomplishment of fiscal consolidation, taking into account the increased needs for public investments.Regarding measures to support investments, the Finance head mentioned that "even in the conditions of a total adjustment of costs, investment spending had a major increase ensured, of over 1 percentage point, up to the level of 6.7% of the GDP, especially through the use of non-returnable external funds made available by the European Union."According to the quoted source, the two officials also discussed policies in the realm of taxation.The Finance Minister reiterated the priority of the Government in regards to reducing the VAT deficit through combating tax evasion by means made available both by the national legislation, as well as by the European one."The Government's priority is to reduce the fiscal deficit in VAT and to reduce tax evasion. We maintain our commitment to return to the limits of the Stability and Growth Pact in 2024," Adrian Caciu told the EU Commissioner for Economy.On the other hand, the Finance Minister also presented to the European Commission representative the mechanism for the B2B electronic bill for products with a raised fiscal risk, as well as the E-Transport system established by Government Emergency Ordinance no. 130/2021.