The plans to temporarily reduce the excise duty on fuels by 50 %, a measure that would have reduced the price by roughly 15 %, were postponed after the Romanian ruling coalition failed to agree.
The reduction of the excise tax was initially announced for the first time on 21 February by the president of PSD Marcel Ciolacu, who stated that the market intervention is needed, for a limited period. The measure was later confirmed by the Minister of Finance Adrian Caciu.
However, Liberal (PNL) leader Florin Citu claimed that by reducing the excise duty on fuel, Romania risks a new infringement procedure if it doesn’t take into account the decisions of the European Commission regarding the minimum excise threshold. He also said that the Minister of Finance must be held responsible in case the measure fails to produce effects – meaning the end-user price fails to drop.
Citu asked the coalition leaders not to announce any more economic measures before they are discussed within the coalition to not give false expectations to the citizens.
