The amendments voted on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies regarding the national legislation that transposes the EU regulation regarding the solidarity contribution violate the principles of the Romanian Constitution, OMV Petrom officials declared.

“The draft law is not final until it is published in the Official Gazette. However, we note that the amendments introduced, such as retroactive applicability, violate the principles of the Romanian Constitution. This is very worrying. Our future investment plans depend, among other things, of a predictable fiscal and regulatory regime”, emphasized the source quoted by Agerpres.

Sources within the company also told Energynomics on Tuesday evening that, for now, it is not clear whether the solidarity tax will be paid or not. “The principle of retroactivity is violated,” said the cited sources. According to the Romanian Constitution, laws cannot have retroactive effect, except for the more favorable criminal law.

The representatives of the oil company reiterated that in 2022 OMV Petrom has already paid 20 billion lei to the state budget, an increase of 60% compared to the previous year. Of this amount, 2 billion lei represented newly introduced taxes last year.

The Chamber of Deputies adopted, on Wednesday, the draft law establishing the solidarity contribution for companies that are active in the extraction of crude oil, natural gas, coal, the manufacture of coke oven products and products obtained for oil refining, introducing provisions regarding the determination of the share in the turnover of these activities.

The legislative initiative was adopted with amendments. Thus, the deputies introduced provisions by which the determination of the share in the turnover of the activities related to the extraction of crude oil, natural gas, oil, the manufacture of coke oven products and products obtained for oil refining is carried out by including several elements.

The amendments were proposed by the PSD, PNL and UDMR parliamentary groups.

The Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making body regarding this draft law.

Autor: Bogdan Tudorache

Active in the economic and business press for the past 26 years, Bogdan graduated Law and then attended intensive courses in Economics and Business English. He went up to the position of editor-in-chief since 2006 and has provided management and editorial policy for numerous economic publications dedicated especially to the community of foreign investors in Romania. From 2003 to 2013 he was active mainly in the financial-banking sector. He started freelancing for Energynomics in 2013, notable for his advanced knowledge of markets, business communities and a mature editorial style, both in Romanian and English.