Senate extraordinary plenary session informed about Treasury loans for local authorities

The Senate convened today in an extraordinary plenary session to be informed about the Government's Emergency Ordinance approving Treasury loans for the local authorities. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Alliance for the Unity of Romanians parliamentary groups did not vote, the meeting secretary said. The Senate is the first Chamber to be notified about the regulatory act. Social Democrat floor leader, Senator Lucian Romascanu, told the session that the Social Democrats are not attending and will not vote for the emergency ordinance, although "basically, the idea is good". "We are called today in a special session to be informed about the Government's Emergency Ordinance on the co-financing quotas local authorities will receive in order to attract European funds. Basically, the idea is good, because we need to develop local communities. However, this ordinance comprises some extremely dangerous elements, dangerous as regards the past and the structure of budgetary funds, dangerous for the future. PSD left 5.4 billion euros in the Treasury. The government now proposes the funding of the Treasury up to 600 something million lei from privatization deals. This is the reason why PSD is absent from voting, and although we support the financing of local communities, we can in no case give our vote for privatizations at this time, the more so as we have a law that forbids the sale of state stakes and assets during the pandemic," Romascanu said. In reply, USR floor leader, Senator Radu Mihail, said that the PSD parliamentary group should have proven its willingness to see the ordinance entering debates as soon as possible in order to correct it, if necessary. According to Senate Chairperson Anca Dragu, the ordinance in question is an "extremely welcome" measure for the economy, because it provides the necessary resources for local investment projects. The Standing Bureau set September 7 as the deadline for the completion of the report on the bill for the approval of the Government's Emergency Ordinance No. 83/2021 on specific fiscal-budgetary measures regarding the grant of State Treasury loans. At the end of the Executive's meeting last week, Prime Minister Florin Citu said the amount is 630 million lei. "The ordinance regulates the possibility of administrative-territorial units to access loans for interest rates between 1 and 1.5 percent, depending on wether the repayment period is up to 3 years or 5 years, respectively. It is an ordinance many of Romania's administrative-territorial units were expecting since long," the Prime Minister explained. According to Article 115 of the Constitution, an emergency ordinance comes in force only after it is submitted for debate in a fast-track procedure to the competent Chamber notified - the Senate in this case, and after its publication in the Official Journal. During recess, the session of the Chambers of Parliament must be convened within 5 days after the document's submission or referral.AGERPRES(RO - author: Sorinel Penes, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Maria Voican)