IMF: "We want a credible budget"

• The Parliament yesterday empowered the Government led by Emil Boc to submit the draft budget for 2010

• However, the decision of the Parliament may be invalidated by the president

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions the awarding of the EUR 1.5 billion installment that our authorities are expecting in December, and by the structure of spending mentioned in the Law of Budget for 2010, as the simple approval of the Law by the Parliament was not sufficient.

The IMF official for Romania, Tonny Lybek, yesterday stressed that the Fund will want to know the details on the structure of the State Budget for 2010, before unlocking the money, in particular the structure of expenses, in order to judge whether it is credible or not.

The IMF official said that the inclusion of a budget deficit of 5.9% of the GDP a year in the budget is not enough for Romania to receive the third tranche: "A budget that meets the budget deficit target of 5.9% of the GDP is not enough, we also need to see the structure of expenses, which needs to be in line with our estimates".

However, he said that the approval of the 2010 budget needs to take precedence over anything else, and he added that once the Parliament approves the budget, the officials of the IMF will most likely discuss with the Romanian authorities to check whether the budget is credible.

Tonny Lybek wanted to emphasize that "the IMF doesn"t interfere with the political environment", when asked whether the release of the installment will be conditioned by the existence of a fully powered government.

The Parliament yesterday decided that the Boc government will be allowed to submit the draft budget law, even though it does not have full powers anymore.

Yesterday, Senators unanimously adopted the revisions to the law for the organization and operation of the Government, after the Chamber of Deputies had done the same on Monday.

"The Parliament"s decision and the responsibility of the members of the Parliament, who are often unfairly blamed, will allow us to debate next year"s budget", said PSD senator, Titus Corlăţean.

However, the revisions of the law by the Parliament will need to be approved by the President. Only then will the dismissed Boc government be able to submit the draft budget law to the Parliament.

Traian Băsescu was quick to point this out during a program on the public TV station, which he attended Tuesday night. When asked about the approach of senators and deputies to grant further powers to the dismissed government in order to allow it to submit the Law for the 2010 budget, the president replied: "If these people expect that they"ll make the president a partner in their game to keep a Government without full powers in place, they"re wrong. I will not play the game of Voiculescu and Hrebenciuc. I am the head of state, I have responsibilities towards the citizens of this country".

The President continued with the accusations towards what he calls the "Grivco group", and which he blames for the fall of the Boc government, and said again that a government that has been dismissed can no longer submit laws before the Parliament.

"The decision that the "Grivco majority" adopted in the Parliament proves that the latter wants to keep this interim government in place, and grant it some additional powers, but not to allow the swear in of a new government", Băsescu said.

The president declined to give a clear cut answer on whether he would pass this law or not, but he did imply that he does agree with the initiative of the Parliament to now confer powers upon the Government which they dismissed.

Essentially, according to the Constitution, president Traian Băsescu has two options: he can request that the Parliament review the law again (once), or he can implement it within at most 20 days from having received it.

The Constitution says: "If the president requests the reexamination of the law, of if the review of the law"s compliance with the constitution has been requested, the law can be passed within at most ten days after the reexamination or after receiving the decision of the Constitutional Court confirming that the law is Constitutional".