Romania should switch to euro, PM-designate Siegfried Mureșan says

Mureșan, whom president Nicușor Dan nominated as prime minister last week, said he wants Romanians to no longer have to ask themselves every day whether the exchange rate has impacted their finances.

For this, “the economy must be stable. The deficit in the past did not help us; we need to have a competitive, strong economy that produces more goods of interest for export, exports more, healthy economic growth, based on investment, with better infrastructure, not based only on consumption,” Siegfried Mureșan said during an interview on Euronews Romania.

Asked whether EUR 1 would fall below RON 5, he replied that “it is not realistic to promise people this immediately.”

“I want us to strengthen the economy, meet the accession conditions and join the Eurozone,” Siegfried Mureșan reiterated.

Earlier this week, Mureșan said he supported fiscal relaxation and that his objective is to bring the standard VAT rate back to 19% from the current 21% and to resume inflation-based indexation of public-sector wages and pensions as soon as Romania can afford it while remaining on its fiscal consolidation path.

The Muresan cabinet is set to face the investiture vote in the Romanian Parliament next week. However, the center-right coalition that backs the proposed PM, made up of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the reformist Save Romania Union party (USR), and the Hungarian minority party UDMR, seems not to have sufficient votes to pass the government without the backing of the Social Democrats (PSD).