Statements by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu at the beginning of the Government meeting

Marcel Ciolacu: First of all, this is the first Cabinet meeting this year, I want to wish a Happy New Year to all Romanians and to you, my colleagues.
I want to thank you for all last year's efforts and I would ask you to further act responsibly in the next period too.
Even though we are facing a very important election year, I would like to promise nothing that we cannot deliver. We must continue to put Romania and Romanians first in all our decisions. The first commitment this year will be to pensioners. Tomorrow we will start paying pensions increased by 13.8%. Also, for those who receive their pension on a card, this will happen in the next few days. This is the first pension increase of the year, followed in September by the recalculation, which will do justice to millions of pensioners.
On the other hand, also as a priority at the beginning of the year, I want to quickly resolve the issue of resident doctors who passed the specialty exam at the end of last year. There are approximately 4,500 doctors in whom the Romanian state has invested hundreds of millions of euros, and we must ensure that they stay in the country. That is why, in the next period, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Development must update the lists of vacant positions and come to the Government with new memoranda for putting them out for competition. I also request the Ministry of Finance to cooperate so that this happens quickly.
I announce that the year 2024 will be all about the economy and the life of Romanians. In 2023, Romania had the highest economic growth in the region, amid very difficult conditions. The latest forecast of the European Commission, according to which ten EU countries will face economic decline in 2023, as 12 member states have significantly overshot their deficit targets.
Romania had a healthy economic growth, as it was based a lot this time on investment and not on consumption. Moreover, the value of investments exceeded the amount of the public deficit last year. Overall, the volume of public investment increased by 33%, and this was seen in the creation of more than 75,000 new jobs. The absorption of European money was, in fact, the engine of the Romanian economy.
For the first time we managed to reach a record absorption level of over 93% in the 2014-2020 financial year. In total, last year we collected over 13.7 billion euros from the European Commission, including the amounts from the PNRR. We worked last year with the National Bank of Romania to bring inflation down to single digit and we succeeded in doing so, to protect peoples purchasing power. Through the measures taken, inflation has decreased from a maximum of 16.8% in November 2022 to 6.7% currently, and in 2024, the BNR estimates show inflation below 5%.
I promised that the reform of the public service apparatus will be one of my terms priorities. This is the most ambitious reform of the public system in the last 30 years.
The reorganization process of the ministries and public institutions is in full swing, and this will result in substantial expense cuts. The saved money will be directed where it is needed, that is to health care and education. 2024 must continue in the same direction. We will complete all reforms to which we pledged and we will continue to fulfill the NRRP milestones. This will allow us to have an economic growth of 3.4%, the second highest economic growth in the European Union. We will do this, as 2024 will be the year of investments. We have in the budget - record-high allocation of RON 120 billion for such projects, accounting for over 7 percent of GDP. This year, investments will contribute by half to economic growth.
Otherwise, in 2024 we will focus on measures to increase domestic production. We have two strategic areas, construction and agriculture, in which we will invest massively. I am glad that we already have projects worth 1 billion euros in the Invest Alim Program, and I hope that the same will happen with Construct Invest
Finally, I want to tell you this: Romania has taken a big step forward in terms of Schengen. After 13 years in which absolutely nothing happened, we finally succeeded, with a well-coordinated, well-welded team to have a political decision regarding the lifting of air and maritime borders and the possibility of issuing Schengen visas. For the first time we have an irreversible process. We will continue to work both at the political and technical level, through the relevant ministries, so that this process will be definitively concluded this year. Romania is equal in Europe, and our economy must benefit fully from the status of Schengen member. Thank you.

Source: Gov