NADIA CRIŞAN, THE COALITION FOR ROMANIA'S DEVELOPMENT: "Reverse VAT charge for meat, an absolute must for the agricultural sector"

In the very near future, the Romanian Authorities can and should take more steps to help agriculture and significantly reduce tax evasion in the sector, said Nadia Crişan, the president of Agriculture Task Force of the Coalition for Romania's Development.

He said: "One of those helpful measures would be the reverse VAT charge for meat, fruit and vegetables, which would eliminate tax evasion in the sector. From my point of view, it is imperative to pass such a measure for the meat sector. The good results that reverse charge has yielded in the grains sector will definitely help the Romanian authorities get such a facility from the IMF and the EU, for the meat sector as well".

The representative of the Coalition for Romania's Development claims that reverse charge must be accompanied by a strategy to reduce tax evasion drawn up by the ANAF and the Ministry of Finance: "Without such a strategy, tax evasion will reappear. Companies move from one country to the next, and they will certainly reincorporate once the application of reverse charge ends".

According to Nadia Crişan, another measure that would help agriculture would be the reduction of VAT rate for food stuffs, as she says that Romania has the highest VAT rate for foods in all of Europe.

Mrs. Crişan also stated during our conference, that lately, the authorities have made progress when it comes to the cadastral survey of farmland plots.

He said: "We hope that the cadastral survey would be completed within five years at the most, just like the authorities have promised. It is very important to major investors".

The representative of the Coalition for Romania's Development said that another factor which discourages investors is the extent of fraud in the agricultural sector and that the ANAF and the Ministry of Finance must absolutely take steps to mitigate the phenomenon, which affects those that pay their taxes fairly.

Nadia Crişan also said that together with the major associations of the agricultural sector, the Coalition wants to develop a plan for promoting domestic products outside Romania.