Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan: "The increase in VAT was a necessity. Increasing taxes, in general, is not a good thing, to be clear, but the increase in VAT in July, when we adopted the first package, was a necessity."

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan justified the increase in VAT starting in July, stating that it was a necessity to avoid the suspension of European funds. Bolojan explained that without a package of measures negotiated with the European Commission, Romania would have risked losing approximately 50% of investments carried out with European funds, which are essential for the PNRR program. He also emphasized that Romania is among the countries with the lowest taxes in the European Union, which contributes to the low revenues of the state budget. The Prime Minister criticized economic approaches that combine low taxes with extensive social policies, warning that this mix can lead to serious economic problems.

"We cannot have Anglo-Saxon approaches to taxes, meaning the lowest taxes, while having Nordic-style social assistance policies, and Balkan behaviors in managing money. This is an economic Molotov cocktail that will explode, and you can see where we have ended up," said Ilie Bolojan on Digi24.