“The country lacks external credibility to be able to borrow money, and lacks domestic credibility to be able to tap the local market at acceptable rates. There are over four million citizens with banks loans to pay back and the depreciation of the romanain leu affects them deeply. There are six million pensioners who were taxed 5.5% for healthcare in 2010 but who have now lost double or triple that amount as their pension’s purchasing power has diminished. I don’t know whether Romania can stick it out until August 31, which is why I am calling on the Government to act responsibly,” Basescu told a news conference Sunday evening.
“August 31 may be too late,” Basescu added.
The Constitutional Court had initially postponed debates and a ruling on the July 29 impeachment referendum for September 12, but reschedules for August 31 citing the urgency of the matter. The Court has asked to analyze voter lists, after it received discrepant data regarding the number of voters from the Interior Ministry.
The impeachment referendum required a voter turnout of more than 50% of eligible voters to be validated. The Central Electoral Bureau announced the voter turnout was 46.24%, of which an overwhelming 87.52% voted to impeach the head of state.