Prime Minister-designate Siegfried Muresan said at Parliament on Wednesday that the governing programme he will propose, together with the list of ministers in his Cabinet, will seek to continue the process of modernising and reforming Romania and will have a clearly pro-European nature.

He said that the vote on the future Government would be a 'test of truth' for the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which would have to choose between supporting a pro-European government and working with the anti-European parties in Parliament.

'I will propose a government with an ambitious agenda to reform and modernise Romania. It will be a government with a clearly pro-European nature. And this government will be a moment of truth for the PSD, a test of truth for the PSD. The PSD will have to choose: support a pro-European government committed to modernising and reforming Romania or work with the anti-European, populist and extremist parties in the Romanian Parliament. My desire is for us to have a civilised dialogue and find a way towards cooperation,' Siegfried Muresan said at Parliament on Wednesday.

The prime minister-designate also outlined some of the main directions that will feature in the governing programme, saying that his objective is for the economy to grow at a faster rate than public debt.

'My objective is for the economy to grow more than the debt in Romania. If the economy grows more than the debt, then we can bear this burden of public debt, but if the deficit were to remain high and if debt were to grow even faster than the economy in the coming years, then the burden on people would remain high. I want money to go to schools and hospitals, not towards the payment of interest by the Romanian state,' Muresan said.

He stressed that the future Government would be extremely responsible in managing public funds and would continue the measures initiated by the Bolojan Government.

'I know that people have borne the brunt of this recovery effort over the past year. It is only right that the state should adapt as well. We want a modern, efficient state that serves citizens better. (...) We will always have audits regarding all public investments. Any permanent expenditure must have a source of funding and must be properly covered,' Muresan said.

Regarding state-owned companies, the prime minister-designate said that they needed to be made more efficient and provide high-quality public services.

'State-owned companies must provide efficient services for people, not be a source of losses for the state budget. Several state-owned companies in the energy and transport sectors absorb more than 90% of the subsidies provided by the Romanian state. We will support companies that make sense, we will have high-performing management at state-owned companies and for each state-owned company, within 12 months of my government taking office, we will have a plan to make the company more efficient. We will list them on the stock exchange if that is appropriate. We will privatise them if that is appropriate. All of them will have high-performing management,' Muresan said.

He added that particular attention would also be paid to state-owned companies in the energy sector, with the objective of reducing energy bills for households and businesses.

'For this, we need efficient state-owned companies that invest. Some of them have had hundreds of millions of euros in European funds available to them in recent years and have failed to attract the money to which they were entitled and which was available to them. (...) We will increase storage capacity, invest in energy infrastructure and interconnectivity,' Muresan said.

The governing programme will also include measures to support Romanian businesses and domestic capital.

'We will help medium-sized businesses that can expand, that are promising and competitive but need capital. We will provide state aid, as I have said, where it makes sense,' Muresan explained.

Regarding taxation, Muresan said that taxes and duties would not be increased during the term of the Government he is proposing and that the Executive would seek to restore VAT to 19% when budgetary conditions allow.

'We will obviously maintain the flat tax rate and, as far as taxation is concerned, I want to make this very clear: there will be no tax or duty increases in Romania throughout the entire term of the government I am proposing. (...) My objective is to have fiscal easing as soon as we can afford it. Fiscal relaxation as soon as we can afford it, reductions wherever they make sense and as quickly as possible, as soon as we can afford them. Regarding VAT, my government is not currently considering and will not consider throughout its entire term any increase in the VAT rate from 21%, and we intend to return to a VAT rate of 19% as soon as possible,' Muresan said.

At European level, the prime minister-designate said that the future Government would support an active role for Romania in negotiations on the future budget of the European Union and would seek to maintain funding for agriculture and cohesion policy.

'At present, the European Union's budget for the period from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2034 is being negotiated. The government I am proposing supports an ambitious European Union budget. Funding at least at the level of the funds that have so far been allocated to agriculture and Cohesion Policy so that we can continue building motorways, insulating blocks of flats and developing infrastructure networks in towns and villages, at least the same level of funding as before in the traditional areas and more funding for security and defence, where Romania, particularly as a country on the Eastern Flank, needs European support,' Muresan said.

The prime minister-designate also mentioned the particular attention that would be paid to the transatlantic partnership and relations with the United States of America, which he wants to be as close as possible and further strengthened economically, commercially, culturally and in all aspects of security.

After finalising the governing programme and the list of ministers, the prime minister-designate said that he would ask the President of Romania for a meeting to present the document. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Florea; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)

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