Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu on Monday called on companies that continue not to pay their taxes correctly and to externalize their profits to pay fairly or leave.

He also asked all companies in Romania for a six-month moratorium for price freezes and solidarity with the population and the government.

„I call on companies that continue not to pay their taxes correctly and to externalize their profits: we can no longer place the tax burden on companies that are fair, that invest, produce and create jobs. In other words: pay fairly or leave,” Ciolacu said at the beginning of the Government meeting.

In the context of the Government’s adoption of the emergency ordinance on some fiscal-budgetary measures, nicknamed the ‘little train’ ordinance, the prime minister said that he is asking „all companies in Romania for a six-month moratorium for price freezes and solidarity with the population and the Government”.

Marcel Ciolacu also had a message for pensioners and Romanians with low incomes.

„The measures we are taking today give us confidence that, when we draw up the state budget in January, we will find the financial resources, either to provide one-off support for small and medium pensions, or to index pensions to the inflation rate in the second half of the year. We will also gradually reduce the tax burden on labor by up to five percentage points in the case of low wages and families with children,” said the prime minister.

He added that he is ready for any criticism.

„As prime minister I am ready for any criticism. In this mandate I do not intend to be popular, but to be extremely efficient. In other words, criticize me, but let Romania move forward and develop. It can’t be done any other way,” the prime minister said.

The government will adopt the ordinance on some fiscal-budgetary measures in Monday’s meeting.

AGERPRES