An economic stimulus plan by September 1st: this is what the government promised to the entire Romanian society, and in particular to businesspeople, after passing the austerity measures that have confused and made everyone poorer, but which the government claims helped stabilize the country from a fiscal point of view.
Just one day is left until the Government is supposed to publicly announce the set of measures which are supposed to provide a stimulus to the economy, that the members of the parliament of the governing parties have been working on for several months, behind closed doors.
The proposed measures were kept secret, not even those politicians that are the friendliest toward journalists agreed to disclose much: not out of an obsession with secrecy, but rather because, like the Government has repeatedly demonstrated lately, anything can change from one day to the next, from laws to taxes, even more so a document that is supposed to contain steps for rescuing the country from the crisis that has plagued it over the last two years.
The professional associations, with which the government should have been working closely on drafting the stimulus plan to ensure it amounted to more than hot air, claim that they were not consulted on its contents, that they have no idea what it contains, and that they are struggling just like us journalists to find out more about it from their sources.
Most likely, we won"t see anything spectacular that would remove the bitter aftertaste of the austerity measures which are affecting us all. And it"s not even us saying it, this is straight from the mouths of the people that worked on them.
* Pambuccian: "Don"t expect anything spectacular. There is a major fear of < taking the bull by the horns >"
* Professional associations: "We are not aware of the contents of this plan. No one consulted
