PM Ponta: I don’t rule out a new agreement with the IMF

Newsroom 04/03/2015 | 11:53

Prime minister Victor Ponta said on Tuesday evening that he doesn’t rule out signing a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This comes after the Romanian government has failed to sign a letter of agreement with the IMF and the European Commission (EC) after representatives of the two institutions came to Bucharest between January 27 and February 9 for consultations and the third evaluation of the EUR 4 billion stand-by agreement with Romania which will expire this September.

According to Agerpres the PM also stated that narrowing the economic gap between Romania and Western Europe is very important for the country’s development.

“No, I don’t rule it out (e.n. a new agreement with the IMF), but I would like us to no longer be treated each time as the pupil in the front desk, who does everything the teacher tells him to and then he also gets scolded, because he is in the front desk. We have done our job, the programs were very good, because from a minus 8 percent deficit and economic recession we have implemented some important structural and budget discipline reforms, but at the same time in order for Romania to continue to develop it needs to reduce the gaps with the West,” PM Ponta said.

He also pointed out that he wants Romania to join the Eurozone in 2019 and to ensure the presidency of the European Union (EU) from a performing state position.

Also on Tuesday, PM Ponta told a meeting with the authors of “Romania noului val” (Romania’s New Wave) that joining the public sector at presenet can have only one motivation, namely patriotism, because financial rewards are lower than in a privately-owned company.

“I should be trying to plead and convince you to work in the public service. My pleading has been successful with some of the young people I had the opportunity to win over to the governmental team; I hope they will not regret very much the fact that some of them accepted. At the same time, it is my duty to tell you that involvement in the civil service in today’s Romania can have only one motivation and that motivation has a name, which I, like most of the younger people, usually avoid, but which I have to use now: patriotism. Financial rewards are out of the picture — you will earn more by working for a privately-owned company than in any public office. There are no other advantages; there are very many incompatibilities and there is a public perception of the presumption of guilt. If you work in the public life, you must surely be guilty. This would be enough for someone to say something about you,” said Ponta.

He added that despite all these disadvantages, each Romanian is under an obligation to get involved in the public service for some time.

The collective book “Romania noului val”, whose its coordinator, Marius Stoian, deems a hub of ideas, was released this year on February 17 in Bucharest.

Regarding the first meeting of the Romanian Supreme Defence Council (CSAT) on Tuesday, the prime minister wrote on his Twitter account that Romania is the most stable and secure country in the region, starting from the acknowledgment that the CSAT meeting took place in a highly efficient, constructive and civilized atmosphere.

Staff

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