TALKS

The Romanian ministers of Finance, Labour and European Funds held talks in Brussels with the technical teams of the European Commission on issues related to the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience and the future law of special pensions. The Romanian authorities want to convince Brussels to accept a budget deficit of up to 5.5% instead of the previously assumed 4.4%. The one percent difference, the ministers say, comes from unplanned additional expenses owing to the war in Ukraine. Romania has spent 0.5% more from the GDP on defence-related issues and has incurred losses because of the imports of cheap Ukrainian grain. Radio Romania’s correspondent in Brussels recalls that Romania is the only country with an infringement procedure opened against it on budget deficit, which has been suspended due to the crisis.