“You must find a way to make sure that the companies that are correct and would pay their debts to the state, but which due to some mechanisms that you know, do not get the money the state owes them, will not file bankruptcy, especially against this background of economic crisis. I call on you to take into consideration and analyse this situation, because it is neither fair, nor moral.”

In turn, the Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu has voiced discontent with this institution’s activity in fighting tax evasion. Vladescu believes that curbing this phenomenon will help Romania overcome the crisis. This could be done through a stronger commitment of the Agency and a good collaboration with the police, the justice system and intelligence services. Sebastian Vladescu:

“Romania needs investments. Romania needs to increase its capital expenditure. But don’t forget that each share of the GDP that is lost through tax evasion translates into less social benefits, smaller pensions, smaller allowances and a poorer state of health of the Romanian population.”

On the other hand, the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu, believes that the deficit of the pensions budget, which absorbs a large part of the central budget, is the reason why highways cannot be built in Romania. Mugur Isarescu:
“ The real issue here is that we have to choose between pensions and highways, because you cannot build roads when the pensions budget absorbs all available funds that make up the central budget. There are no functional pension funds in Romania yet. There are only pension budgets, and in order to avoid deficit, there should be either a sufficient number of tax payers, or a high level of contribution to the pension fund.”

Isarescu has warned that if Romania wants to adopt the Euro in 2015, it will have to reduce the budget deficit down to 3% and under these circumstances no highways can be built. The Central Bank Governor has also said that Romania’s economic situation will start improving when it stops borrowing money from the IMF.