BRUSSELS — Romania’s fledgling government is made up of the country’s most pro-European politicians, but that hasn’t stopped them citing Brussels as a key reason why they need to impose a drastic set of tax hikes and spending cuts to avert financial collapse.

For the past five years, Romania has been spending way beyond its means — in the words of new President Nicușor Dan, eating a large pizza while only paying for a medium-sized one — and has a projected budget deficit of around 9 percent of economic output this year, the highest in the European Union.

That record of poor fiscal management has provoked repeated reprimands from the European Commission, which Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan now says can no longer be ignored. This week, ministers from EU countries will vote to decide on a strict plan setting out exactly what Romania must now do to restore order to its public finances.

https://www.politico.eu/article/romania-reckoning-brussels-soaring-budget-deficit/

  • FundMECFS@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    EU more ready to punish a country for spending too much than for literally becoming an autocracy.

    Ahhh neoliberalism.

    • latenightnoir@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      1·
      15 hours ago

      If the actual spending was that large, we, the citizenry, would see it. But we don’t. Our living situation has steadily degraded over time, wages have stagnated for at least a decade, our infrastructure’s essentially unchanged from the 80s… And many other such examples.

      No, the country isn’t spending, the politicians are, for themselves and their families. In Romania, as long as you don’t steal from the big wigs, nobody gives a shit.

      Edit: in my opinion, Brussels should lay into them like a fucking hurricane.

    • TheThordir@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      1 day ago

      Except there is no left-wing in Romania, just cleptocrats, neolibs and their cronies. Just yesterday some IRS romanian version guy wanted a 1 million euro bribe to look the other way for millions in unpaid taxes.

    • TheThordir@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      1 day ago

      Of course. Barely any investments, the so called sallary raises for government workers went mostly to the directors and ministers and senators, while the lion’s share of pension raises were given mostly to magistrates and ministers.

      Now, some neoliberal puppet scum wants to slash welfare (which was a pitance) and over tax the middle and working classes, all while the fat cat capitalists pay barely any taxes and politicians get richer, and vote for more benefits and privileges for themselves.

      I hate this corrupt hellhole. We seem to have taken all the worst things from both turbo-capitalist America and Oligarchic Russia and combined them into banana republic mess.