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One more week for discussions on the Offshore Law – Calculations on fiscal regime start from scratch
Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, PSD ( social-democrat- ruling party) chairman Liviu Dragnea said on Saturday that “a consensus has been reached” regarding the Offshore Law, in the sense that the leaders of the groups in Parliament should look “more carefully” on figures, energynomics.ro informs. A new vote could be scheduled at the earliest next week. Meanwhile, Calin Popescu Tariceanu , the head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) , minor at rule, has launched the idea that the profits should be of half divided between the state and oil companies.
According to Tariceanu, a “balanced and equitable” agreement would mean “to ensure 50% profit for the state and 50% to investors”. In turn, Deputy Andrei Gerea, ALDE Vice President, former Energy Minister, told BURSA: “We want to have more information, more data and figures, both from the ministries involved and from the National Agency for Mineral Resources, and from potential investors in offshore perimeters. ”
A few days earlier, the PSD president said that the Finance Minister had submitted an assessment of the economic impact of the Offshore Law, probably to the Chamber of Deputies’ Industry Committee. It is not clear which form of the legislative project Liviu Dragnea referred to.
Public statements remain unclear, given that percentages invoked are to be applied to different bases (profit or income, with deductions or not). In addition, the total fiscal burden on oil and gas companies is never taken into account; also, there is no talk about Romania’s specific conditions, from geological data and existing infrastructure, to unpredictable legislative, fiscal, political and economic framework.
A week ago, the Chamber of Deputies decided to refer the vote on the Offshore Law, drastically modified in the Industry Committee from the form previously adopted by the Senate.