The Minister of Finances Asks for His Resignation

The decree with the indirect subsidies for the Tractorul Engine Works cannot be published in the Official Gazette without the signature of the Minister of Finances. However, he once more said he wouldn’t sign. In his turn, the NAFA President, Sebastian Bodu, sustains that he wouldn’t sign such a decree either.

The scandal that appeared between Prime Minister Tariceanu and the Minister of Finances, Popescu, is far from being solved. The Tractorul decree cannot be published in the Official Gazette without the signature of the Minister of Finances. "This is something we have discussed with the jurists, because it resulted in a debate. We wanted to know whether the Government’s General Secretariat, which sends all the regulative acts to the Official Gazette, might send such a document without the signatures of the involved Ministers. From our discussion it resulted this cannot happen", Ionut Popescu stated during a show at Realitatea TV.

REPLACEMENT The situation might be solved if one of the state secretaries would sign for the Minister, but it seems that nobody asked for this responsibility. Ionut Popescu admitted that, when he is out of the country, he names one of the state secretaries to take his place and to sign the documents in which the Minister is involved.

State Secretary Sebastian Bodu, the President of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (NAFA), stated for us: "I am against any kind of subsidies. I am for the market, and we should let the market decide what company resists and which one doesn’t. So, since it is against my principles, I won’t sign such a decree"

THE SURPRISE Minister Ionut Popescu publicly asked for his resignation. "If you ask me to be in the Prime Minister’s boots, I would certainly replace that Minister", Popescu stated at Realitatea TV. However, the NAFA President, Sebastian Bodu, says there is a solution. "As a jurist, I believe the Prime Minister could send a by-law to the Official Gazette to ask this institution to apply the decree without the signature of the Minister of Finances". He shows that the Government’s decisions are taken as a result of an agreement and the Prime Minister can decide in favor of a decree even if a Minster is against it.

PRINCIPLES "After 1990, the Tractorul Engine Works have benefited from a lot of support and I believe it is time for this subsidies and money thrown away saraband to end", Popescu explained his opinion. The NAFA President also says Tractorul is one of the companies that should be privatized as soon as possible, or NAFA would have to take legal action against it and sell all the lands it owns. On the other hand, Prime Minister Tariceanu stated that the "100 billion lei subsidy is given for the agricultural producers that want to buy tillers. We cannot accept it and the Romanian and European laws don’t allow the direct subsidies. Therefore, the 100 billion lei don’t go to Tractorul".