Minister of European Investment and Projects Adrian Caciu said on Saturday that Romania does not risk losing European money, but it risks being fined if nothing is done about what tax and budget consolidation means, write Agerpres.

He was asked by the press, before a meeting of the National Standing Bureau (BPN) of the Socialist Democratic Party (PSD), if Romania risks losing European money in the period immediately ahead.

„We don’t risk losing European money. We have negotiations with the European Commission, we have talked with the European Commission. The regulations say something completely different than the suspension of European funds. If we did nothing related to what tax and budget consolidation means, we would risk a fine, but that will not happen. The negotiations started in August; I was in Brussels together with the[finance] minister. Things are where the European Commission understood that we have additional expenses related to what the continuation of this conflict in Ukraine means, although we do not want, none of us wanted it to continue. These are expenses that put pressure on the national budgets of the member states,” said Caciu.

He added that, at this moment, all of Europe has an economic problem, but Romania manages to continue with economic growth. „I think the world should put things in a European context: there are European states that have exceeded their deficit targets, strong states. At least three of them have overshot their deficit targets, the planned ones. What does this mean? That the economy did not evolve as it was predicted last year. We are avoiding a recession; it is a very important thing for Romanian citizens, for Romanian companies that we are moving forward, we have economic growth, one of the few EU states to witness economic growth this year. Let’s not we look at things negatively only. (…) It’s a complicated context; it’s not because of us, the citizens of Romania, it’s a context that is created at the regional level, and not only at the global level,” said Caciu, a former finance minister. At the same time, he gave assurances that the government is firing on all engines so that things are stable from an economic and budgetary point of view.