Truck Drivers Protest in Front of the Romanian Government

According to Mediafax, a number of carriers’ associations are protesting on Wednesday, between 6:00 and 16:00, in Victoriei Square in Bucharest, demanding the re-introduction of the daily allowance as salary income. They are also protesting against the imposition of quarantine on professional drivers, as well as the crisis in the insurance market.

Romania is the only state in Eastern Europe, unlike countries such as Poland, Lithuania or Hungary where per diems are taxed. Other countries are constantly adopting measures to protect carriers, but Romania is not one of them. The effects of this radical decision are devastating, especially since the taxation is done retroactively, the penalties being impossible to pay by any company.

Also, the Romanian Government requires the quarantine of drivers returning from countries that are in the yellow or red scenario in terms of the degree of risk of contamination with COVID-19, as well as for those who are not vaccinated or have not had COVID-19 in the last three months. This decision visibly affects road transport activity.

Professional drivers are exempted from the quarantine measure in all countries, in order to maintain supply chains, as also recommended by the European Commission, which has
created in this sense “green color” and clearly indicated the exemption from the quarantine of professional drivers.

Road transport is an essential economic sector of Romania, having a contribution to the export of services of over 22.3 billion euros in the last 4 years. Road transport and related services
generates about 5% of Romania’s GDP and employs over 350,000 people.
Among the associations that initiated the protest, the Employers’ Association of Transporters Europe 2002 and COTAR announced that they are giving up, after obtaining the promise of the Minister of Finance, Dan Vîlceanu, on “correcting ANAF’s approaches to carriers, through Parliament”.