Tedeschi will not hide in the “hole in the wall” so that he could avoid the world storm. Concern is focused only on one thing – his company cannot act carelessly, recklessly and irrationally. Attention, rationality and caution are key determinants of national defense plans that the governments are preparing for the coming year (in order to minimize budget costs). Prime Ministers are more and more boldly entering the parliamentary collisions with the opposition, offering “sweat and tears”, and this same opposition often takes sides with the ruling parties, postponing partisanship for some other prosperous times. Few days ago, the two governments, Poland and Romania, have demonstrated this phenomenon in a remarkable way.
Poland is, by the way, commonly referred to as a state that was previously only scratched by the global crisis, and this country is marked by increased GDP growth, exports, employment … However, because of the new upcoming crisis, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has offered Sejm a new program of reforms and consolidation of public finances which are based on intense savings – the abolition of tax reliefs, the country will no longer pay for the health insurance of the farmers who will also have to pay the tax, age limit for retirement has been increased to 67 years, and even priests will have to pay the pension contributions. All these measures were taken so that the budget deficit would be reduced to below three per cent of GDP and public debt below 48 percent of GDP. This will save 3.25 billion Euros.
Emil Boc, the Prime Minister of neighboring Romania, has not yet entered the parliament with a program of reforms and austerity, but quite enough data about the seriousness with which the state welcomes new crisis have already been revealed in public. Romania, which has been carrying out the measures of harsh austerity for two years now, has increased the VAT (from 19 to 24 percent), reduced salaries costs in the public sector (25 percent), reduced social benefits (15 percent), reduced the number of public employees, reduced their salaries and froze their pensions. This policy of cost cutting has resulted in this year’s budget deficit in line with the planned (4.4 percent of GDP).
For the year 2012. Bok is planning a budget deficit of 1.9 percent of GDP, which will reflect in further limitation of public spending, freezing pensions at the level of year 2009, no increase of wages in public sector, reduction of social benefits and continued reforms of state enterprises.
“The future times” have changed many European societies. All actors have in mind the need for careful, rational and prudent conduct.
In Poland, for example, the opposition generally do not behave with the aim to “place the burden on someone else.” The cooperation of opposition leaders in some projects was praised by the Prime Minister Tusk who said “a chance to win the crisis is given only to those countries that managed to build bridges between government and opposition in regards to the major issues for the nation.”
And where are we in this situation? One detail explains all. Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Diaspora, Finance, Labor and Social Policy, Pension Fund, the Tax Administration and the Patriarch agreed that from January 1st 2012, the state would pay half a disability pension and social security for all the priests and officials of the traditional churches and religious communities. Where from?