Promises made by the new ministers

The Minister designate for the Finance portfolio, Gheorghe Pogea, said that the future government will take into consideration any collaboration which would ensure stability, including one with the International Monetary Fund. “The budget deficit is presently 3.67 percent of GDP and could widen to four percent by year-end. However, the problem is not whether the budget deficit is wide or narrow, but whether it is financeable,” Pogea added, quoted by the NewsIn agency.

Dan Nica, nominated as Deputy Prime Minister, talked about accessing European funds, guaranteeing access of small and medium-sized enterprises to financing and transparency of regulators.

Adriean Videanu, the soon-to-be Minister of Economy, said that subordinating energy companies to the Authority for State Assets Recovery (AVAS) was a mistake and that these should be under the Ministry of Economy, together with Compania Energetica Nationala (CEN).

The future Minister of Transportation, Radu Berceanu, said he plans to have 54 km of the Transilvania highway ready for use in 2009, a further 172 km in 2010, another 156 km in 2011, followed by 354 km in 2012. Berceanu added that some €22 billion are required by 2012 for building the highway.

Ecaterina Andronescu, nominated as Minister of Education, said that “a 50 percent rise in the salaries of university professors is slightly exaggerated,” while Marian Sarbu, the future Minister of Labor, said that the “new government will know by this year’s end if it can raise the pension point to 45 percent of the gross average salary as of 1 January.”