Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan stated on Monday that the decision taken in the coalition is to reduce the value of the excise tax on fuel prices in the next period, and in the first stage on diesel, because this is where the largest increases have been.

“Because we are reaching an area or approaching a plateau area and we already see where prices have stopped, on the one hand we propose that, analyzing the market, where possible, we intervene. We had the possibility of intervening on taxes associated with fuels, or value added tax or excise, here analyzing the pluses and minuses to avoid an infringement procedure with the Commission, because, if you intervene on VAT, you have such a procedure, we are in an excessive deficit and therefore unable to operate on certain tax reductions, because we already have problems, we made this decision, to intervene on the excise component,” the prime minister told Digi24.

“In the coming period, we will reduce the amount of excise duty on fuel prices, in order to help buyers buy cheaper fuel,” the head of the Executive also said.

“In the first stage, we are focusing on diesel, because this is where the largest increases were and over 70% of fuel consumption in Romania is diesel. Acting in this area in stages, there is an impact on 2 or 3 of those who use cars in Romania. (..) If we want to have an effect, we must intervene where the effect is maximum and has an impact on a significant number of cities. This means, to go further, that we are working on one or two working hypotheses that will be presented in the coming days in such a way that, on the one hand, we have the maximum impact on the market, but, on the other hand, we also take into account the possibilities we have, because all these reductions implicitly mean an expense that is paid for by the state budget”, Bolojan also said, according to News.ro.

“This intervention that we are making must be sustainable and be covered by resources from the state budget,” Ilie Bolojan also stated, pointing out that an amount of money from the excise tax that those who sell fuel pay today will be reduced.

According to Bolojan, the Ministry of Finance is currently working on the simulations that need to be done, in order to calculate exactly the impact on both the price and the total cost of this reduction, which must be covered from the budget, so that this measure has a purpose, has an effect and, on the other hand, can be sustained.

“In the coming days, we will announce exactly what this reduction will be. The money will practically no longer be collected from the state budget and we must discuss very openly, this type of facility must be covered from somewhere,” Bolojan also said.