Former prime minister said that Romania should have switched to the euro in order to avoid such economic slippages
https://www.digi24.ro/amphtml/stiri/actualitate/politica/theodor-stolojan-am-militat-ca-romania-sa-treaca-la-euro-cat-mai-rapid-a-fost-o-rezistenta-incredibila-interese-sa-ramanem-asa-3578803
Posted by No_Firefighter5926
4 Comments
It looks like OP posted an AMP link. These should load faster, but AMP is controversial because of [concerns over privacy and the Open Web](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot).
Maybe check out **the canonical page** instead: **[https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/politica/theodor-stolojan-am-militat-ca-romania-sa-treaca-la-euro-cat-mai-rapid-a-fost-o-rezistenta-incredibila-interese-sa-ramanem-asa-3578803](https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/politica/theodor-stolojan-am-militat-ca-romania-sa-treaca-la-euro-cat-mai-rapid-a-fost-o-rezistenta-incredibila-interese-sa-ramanem-asa-3578803)**
*****
^(I’m a bot | )[^(Why & About)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot)^( | )[^(Summon: u/AmputatorBot)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/)
Theodor Stolojan spoke on Friday evening, exclusively on Digi24, about Romania’s economic situation. The former prime minister said that until the next elections, after PSD takes over as prime minister, “he has enough time to run into the fence again”. Stolojan stressed that Romania should have switched to the euro, something he has always campaigned for, in order to avoid such economic slippages. “There was incredible resistance also from the banking system, theorists who were trying to prove that Romania cannot switch to the euro until it is sufficiently developed”, he said, after which he gave Croatia and Bulgaria as examples, the latter being able to have more notable performances than our country in the future.
“There is a coalition of parties that now govern Romania – PSD, PNL, UDMR and USR. Yes, the fundamental interest of the PSD is that Prime Minister Bolojan and the government he leads put in place, restore macro balances in Romania, ensure the trend of deficit reduction and will take over the position of Prime Minister in 2027, PSD. So, until the elections, the PSD has enough time, as the Romanians say, to run the cart into the fence again, because the problem of Romania, unlike other more fiscally and financially disciplined countries, the problem of Romania is that we, with a mathematical cadence, end up running the cart into the fence, as we have now and these extremely painful and severe measures had to be taken for the Romanian population and not only, but also for Romanian companies. We have this quality, that’s why I have always campaigned for Romania to switch to the euro as quickly as possible”, stated Theodor Stolojan.
Asked at the NBR whether he agrees with Romania’s transition to the euro, the former prime minister of Romania said that there were people who “had an interest in Romania remaining in the situation it is in, with very high interest rates, with very high gains from foreign exchange and so on.”
“But the situation is not only because of the banking system. The situation is much more widespread. The idea that, sir, we are bad with the euro, we would be much worse with the euro. It is not true. I have always advocated – to switch to the euro you have to ensure macro-economic balances and not the level of development. As proof, Croatia joined the euro, which at that time had a GDP per capita below Romania. And I was told then yes, but Croatia is a small country, not like us. Bulgaria has now joined, recently,” Stolojan stressed.
“I’m looking at the news in Romania – that, sir, he didn’t find any euros when he went to the ATM, or that he doesn’t have any euros to give him change and he has to give him leva. This is nonsense. These are inherent issues for the initial period, until they get things in order,” the liberal added.
“Bulgaria will have a competitive advantage over Romania on all levels, especially in terms of tourism. And you will see at the end of this year what kind of tourism Bulgaria had internationally and what kind of tourism it will have in Romania,” the former prime minister concluded.
The lack of intelligence and/or education of our leaders (not only political) is the biggest vulnerability of Romania.
>”I’m looking at the news in Romania – that, sir, he didn’t find any euros when he went to the ATM, or that he doesn’t have any euros to give him change and he has to give him leva. **This is nonsense. These are inherent issues for the initial period, until they get things in order**,” the liberal added.
Bulgarian here and I want to make a clarification.
The statement that I quoted is correct. In Bulgaria there is a one-month dual currency period. During this period people can make retail purchases (e.g. everyday shopping) using either currency but they should receive their change always in Euro. Of course, this rule is applicable only as long as the shop in question has Euro available – if the shop has no Euro left, they will give the change in Bulgarian leva.
After the end of this one-month dual currency period only Euro will be accepted for payments.
This measure is aimed both at letting the population get used to the new currency and letting the population to spend their available cash without a need to exchange it in a bank or post office. This will also help to bring the already available BGN banknotes and coins out of circulation because most people hold some cash for everyday purchases.
Naturally, this led to an increase in cash payments for the first week and sometimes the shops were out of Euro. It is not a big deal, since most shops support card payments, too, and it will be even less of a deal in the coming weeks after people spend or exchange their cash reserves in leva.
For the first 10 days in our firm (which has offices in the whole country) the cash payments in Euro increased and are now about 60% of all cash payments. Meaning that it is reasonable to expect full transition to payments in Euro before the end of the 1 month dual currency period.