The government is creating an undue sentiment that the economy is facing unprecedented risks which need to be addressed with legislation adopted at lightning speeds and without any proper consultation. Not only is the business community faced with a constant number of emergency ordinances but the time allowed to study and understand their impact before adoption has been reduced below the bare minimum.
Official data show a certain level of macroeconomic stability and thus we see no reason for legislating in such a hurry. Even if there are concerns regarding the deficit, inflation or workforce shortage the economy is well within normal parameters and should be treated as such. We believe that for the good functioning of the economy, the government should not use the emergency ordinances procedure for amending fundamental legislation, the Council said.
Like any legislative initiative, emergency ordinances need a consultation period, a period of understanding the mechanisms that will change and a minimum assessment of implementation efforts. That is why the legislative framework and good practice provide for a period of between 10 to 30 days of consultation and even this is not enough for complex projects. In recent months the government has managed to shrink this period down to 24-72 hours.
Just in the past 12 months we have seen emergency ordinances on subjects of utmost importance: transferring social contributions from employer to employee, public-private partnerships, salaries of staff paid out of public funds, budget rectification, public procurement, absorption of European Funds, insolvency law, Sovereign Fund for Investments and Development, Fiscal Code and Fiscal Procedure Code, etc.
“We consider that most of the measures adopted by the government should take the form of draft laws that will then be debated in the Romanian parliament. Such a law-making process, using parliament’s rightful role, will produce laws that are better suited to the real economy and more stable over time. This approach would provide more opportunities for consultation of relevant parties either when promoted by the government or in parliamentary debates, FIC said.
The Foreign Investors Council brings together 130 member companies with a total of 182,000 employees and a cumulative turnover of RON183 billion. The organization’s board of directors includes representatives of Uniqa Asigurări, PwC Romania, Engie Romania, Orange Romania, KMG International, KPMG Romania, Deloitte Romania, Sodexo Pass Romania, CRH Ciment Romania, EBRD, MullenLowe Group, Enel Romania, Mega Image, ING Bank Romania, and GSK Romania.