Foreign Investors Council (FIC) believes the Emergency Ordinance for the tax plan issued by the Romanian Government should not be adopted because it will harm companies and their employees and in the end will harm the Romanian society.

“Public and political discourse keeps coming back to the role played in the economy by Romanian companies with foreign capital. The members of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) are disappointed by this discourse which is trying to suggest that ‘foreigners’ are looking to harm Romania,” said FIC. “This only serves to antagonize large companies with small ones, Romanian companies with foreign ones and the private sector with the public one. A divided nation is not easier to govern. A divided nation is simply a poorer nation.”

FIC has asked the authorities repeatedly to publish in a transparent manner for the public opinion and everyone to see the data regarding all the taxes paid by private and state companies in Romania and the analysis which prompts politicians to raise all these question marks about the activity of private companies in Romania.

“This kind of political discourse quickly becomes public policy with hasty decisions taken with zero consultation,” FIC added. “The latest example is this Emergency Ordinance which will amend and modify more than 40 legal acts (laws, other ordinances, government decisions) in the last Government meeting of the year. These hazardous changes to organic laws, suspension of terms, freezing of payments, the introduction of new taxes, creation of state-aid schemes and investment funds with unclear purpose will have a profound impact on many areas of the economy and will test the patience of businesses and citizens.”