It is time to declare zero tolerance for drug trafficking, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Friday at the event „Priorities of the justice system and the rule of law Report – national and European context”, stressing that he does not agree that the „battle with drugs has been lost”, because drugs and tax evasion are „huge” problems and „the state’s response so far has often been too soft and hesitant”, write Agerpres.

Marcel Ciolacu said that the institutions’ „drawers” are full of drug-related strategies, but the reality shows that there are more and more of these substances on the streets, saying that Romania must „focus” on dismantling drug trafficking networks.

„Drug trafficking is the root of evil. This is where it all starts and this is where we have to act with a lot of courage, to act, not to react. I think this is the legitimate expectation of the whole society,” added Marcel Ciolacu. As concerns tax evasion, Ciolacu said that „a strong and immediate response” must be given to counter it.

„10 percent of GDP, more than 150 billion RON, that is more than Romania’s entire pension budget, is drained every year by all sorts of methods and, instead of reaching the state budget, it ends up in the pockets of criminals,” the prime minister said.

He said that one of the main lines of action in the forthcoming package of measures on which the Government will assume responsibility in Parliament will be to combat tax evasion, mentioning, in this regard, measures to prevent and combat illicit economic activities and strengthen financial discipline. Ciolacu also referred to the Constitutional Court’s decisions, saying that Romania has only one more milestone to meet under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), that of special pensions, to submit payment claim number 3 and cannot afford to lose this money.

„It is time to look very quickly also at the European Commission’s requirements, which, as I saw them last night as sent by the technical teams, are reasonable ones. Romania cannot lose 1.7 billion out of a 2.4 billion payment tranche. Romania cannot afford this, for the entire PNRR to be called into question because of one milestone. Under the PNRR we are not only talking about money, we are talking about reforms, reforms that are necessary for the Romanian state,” the prime minister said.