Romanian PM Tells EU Ambassadors ‘Economy Is a Priority’, Does the Opposite in the Country

On Tuesday, June 9, Romanian PM had an intervention during a video conference organized by the Croatian presidency of the EU with the EU states ambassadors. The conference had the purpose of discussing the way the European states managed the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the conference, Ludovic Orban declared:

If, during the emergency situation, our motto was ‘Health before anything else’, for limiting the spread of the disease, now, when things start looking better, our motto is ‘Economy before anything else!’.

Romanian PM, Ludovic Orban, during video conference on June 9

The funny thing is, from this perspective, that exactly the same day the Romanian authorities announced they won’t open restaurants or cinema theaters on June 15 as the restaurant owners and hospitality entrepreneurs had hoped. The situation of Romanian hospitality is particularly difficult, but the Government did too little to help the affected businesses. Apart from that, Romanian Government failed to help Romanian SMEs, which have put Romania on the third place in EU by unemployed growth.

At the moment, Romania has around 1 million unemployed, with 400,000 having lost their jobs for good and other 600,000 on temporary unemployment.

It is for certain that Romania is heading at full speed towards the recession, despite the optimism displayed by the Government. The unemployment rate is expected to reach a record of 6.5% at the end of 2020, while the GDP to decrease by up to 9%.

Photo source: Gov.ro