2023-11-06 17:15:00
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on Monday evening that the banks will not increase the commissions for cash transactions, following an agreement agreed at the Victoria Palace. “Bank commissions will not increase in Romania, neither for individuals nor for legal entities,” declared the prime minister.
Meeting at the Government on the subject of cashPhoto: Romanian Government / Facebook
- “This is the agreement we reached today with the Romanian Association of Banks and with the representatives of the most important banks in Romania, but also with those of the BNR.
- I am glad that the arguments presented were fully understood and I thank them for opening the dialogue.”, Marcel Ciolacu announced on Facebook.
The government announces that a permanent consultation mechanism has also been established
In a separate press releasethe Government announced on Monday evening that Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the representatives of the Romanian Bank Association agreed that, both for individuals and for legal entities, bank commissions should not be increased.
The implementation of government measures to combat evasion and the maintenance of bank commissions at the current level were the main topics discussed at the Government meeting.
The press release also mentions that “the representatives of the Government and those of the Romanian Association of Banks have established a permanent consultation mechanism, in which the National Bank of Romania will also participate.”
On behalf of the Government, the meeting was also attended by the Deputy Prime Minister Marian Neacșu, the Minister of Finance, Marcel Boloș, the head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, Alexandru-Mihai Ghigiu.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu had a working meeting on Monday with the representatives of the members of the Executive Council of the Romanian Association of Banks, after he stated last week that banks’ greed cannot be fueled by the debate on cash and that it is intolerable to artificially increase bank commissions.
- “Banks’ greed cannot be fueled by the cash debate! It is intolerable to artificially increase bank fees!”, the prime minister wrote on Friday, in a post on Facebook.
Marcel Ciolacu announced in the post that he will convene a meeting at the Government with specialists from the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank of Romania, but also with representatives of small entrepreneurs, banks and civil society in order to make a decision on the subject of cash money.
- “I will never give up the fight against evasion. And I will not give up protecting the Romanians from the greed of some who want to make money at any cost”, said the head of the Executive on Friday.
Several banks have announced increases in commissions in the context in which banks were imposed a tax on gross income of 2% per year, and on the other hand, the Government reduced the ceilings up to which companies and individuals can make cash transactions , which forces more bank transactions, this being an additional source of income for banks.
Electoral ping-pong in the Coalition because of cash payments
After the Government assumed the imposition of a ceiling on cash payments in the ordinance with the new fiscal measures, the liberals contested it through the voice of Nicolae Ciucă. The president of PSD, Marcel Ciolacu, replied that the liberal Minister of Finance supported the proposal that would have come from ANAF, and in the coalition he did not hear any voice against it.
The president of the PNL, Nicolae Ciucă, claims that “he did not agree in the Coalition with the limitation of cash payments from the beginning” because he knew the ATM infrastructure in the country. Ciucă declared on Monday that the measure of capping cash payments must be reviewed as soon as possible.
The president of the PNL claims that the decision in the coalition was not made unilaterally: “It was a decision that we discussed and we all understood at the time that it was a decision taken, which practically contributes to the reduction of tax evasion. Or, I don’t think that the ordinary citizen is the one who contributes to this evasion”.
In response, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu claims that the Minister of Finance came and said that the technical team from ANAF made these proposals, and at that moment he did not hear any voice in the coalition.
Ciolacu also showed that his priority is to combat tax evasion and specified that it is not about giving up, it is about not being affected.
“I don’t know if changing the ceilings is the best solution. It is a problem for small entrepreneurs”, he also said, announcing that he will meet with banks and SMEs.
The Head of the Executive specified that “these measures were proposed by a technical team from ANAF”.
- “It would have seemed embarrassing for me, the prime minister, to come out and criticize the proposals of some ANAF experts, it was not a political proposal. Moreover, the Minister of Finance came and, as is normal, we have the biggest tax evasion in Europe, we talk about it but we don’t want to take any measures. The Minister of Finance came and said that the technical team from ANAF came up with these proposals. At that moment, in the coalition, I did not hear any voice”, Ciolacu pointed out.
The Prime Minister declared, after the meeting of the party leadership, that he will have a meeting today with the banks, then with the SMEs, on the subject of capping cash payments.
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