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The new draft law on royalties will be put up for public debate early next year
Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced on Friday on his Facebook page that the new draft law on royalties will be put up for public debate early next year, adding that it would have been a "proof of irresponsibility" to launch the draft in an election year.
"The new draft [on royalties] will be put up for public debate at the beginning of next year, because political consensus in needed, not only a decision of the majority. Why have we not held this debate in 2014? You have seen the circus made when the social security contributors were cut. It would have been a proof of irresponsibility to put the draft up for debate in an election year," Ponta wrote on his Facebook page.
Ponta also said that as of this year, there is a solution for the state to collect more from the big companies, namely "the special tax on additional profits of companies in the field, meaning that two thirds of the additional profit generated by the tariffs of these companies already comes to the state budget."
"It's not a draft, it's a law in force as of this year and it has already generated a lot of money to the budget! It's a mechanism accepted by our foreign partners, it will stay into force also next year!," Ponta explained.
The prime minister added that the new draft to be sent to the Parliament, supports "an idea promoted by Klaus Iohannis too (according to his presidential program)", namely "to transfer some of the collected royalties to the local authorities, in order for the local communities to benefit from additional funding."
"It's a good idea we took over this year and which we shall include in the new draft," Ponta has promised.
The head of the Government also wrote that "measures the Romanians are waiting for, fair for the citizens, but also useful for the strengthening of the Romanian state" can be applied "in a rational and smart way" next year.