Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said the government could not set royalties without taking into account the meaning of the world market and European law, noting that the slogan of raising royalties to increase revenues risks creating the opposite effect. He also said that any discussion related to the level of royalties or other taxes must be rational and dictated by the economic situation and Romania’s interests.

“We cannot set royalties without taking into account everything that the world market means, to take into account European legislation, to take into account the type of taxation that is practiced by other countries. This slogan with increasing royalties to increase revenues risks creating the opposite effect because any investor, any company that is involved in the process of exploitation of natural resources, when making the decision to support an investment also takes into account the tax system that exists in Romania, and compared to the taxation system in other countries, Romania does not have a tax haven, but on the contrary, we have a tax system even slightly above the average taxation in other European countries,” Orban was quoted as saying by News.ro.

He mentioned that a balance must be found between the needs that Romania has, specifying that any discussion about the level of royalties must be rational and dictated by the economic conjuncture.

“We must find a balance between the actual needs that Romania has. The most important thing for Romania is to develop economically, and for this economic development to have as support all the investment projects that are necessary to ensure the support of this development. As such, any discussion related to the level of royalties or other taxes must be rational and must be dictated by the economic conjuncture, by the interests that Romania has,” the prime minister explained.