UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor says the proposals in the Austerity Ordinance are a “deliberate attempt at cultural murder” by the government and that he has told Prime Minister Marcel Çolak that he should “throw them in the trash because that’s where they are belong”.

He also said that the Government has declared a “war” on culture, and the proposal that local authorities should support their own activities and cultural institutions from their own income comes from those who “probably have never been to a concert and are unlikely to have seen it in their lifetime , like a theater or a museum from the inside.”

What Kelemen Hunor says:

• “In a so-called unacceptable project, the Government recently declared war on culture, proposing that in future local authorities could spend up to 7.5% of their own income to support cultural, religious and sporting events and institutions.
• First of all, the person who came up with this has probably never been to a concert and has probably never seen the inside of a theater or museum in his life.
• Secondly, Romania currently ranks one of the last in the European Union in terms of cultural support. This cultural support does not exceed half a percent of the national GDP in the country of Brancusi and Enescu. This small amount is now being further reduced by order of the Government, contrary to the interests and needs of local communities.
• What the government intends to do is to attempt deliberate cultural murder. Whoever attacks culture is capable of anything. Those who attack culture will sooner or later come to the conclusion that books are not fit to be printed, but should be burned!
• A week ago, we asked the Prime Minister to abandon these austerity measures. Just throw them in the trash because that’s where they belong! I gave him all my arguments. The Prime Minister promised me that he would take these arguments into consideration, but let’s see what happens,” Hunor wrote on Facebook.

Culture Minister Raluka Čurkan sent an appeal to Finance Minister Marcel Bolos, in which he points out that if the fiscal measures announced by the executive are applied, 61% of state-owned cultural institutions will be closed, according to a document obtained by News.ro.

Dozens of professional organizations and public organizations are asking the Government to abandon the proposals of the Decree on Savings, which concern the sphere of culture. They emphasize that the proposals will lead to a threat to the cultural heritage and deprofessionalization of these institutions, given that there are still few specialists.

HotNews.ro reported that the government wants to transfer the district directorates of culture from the Ministry of Culture to the District Councils/General Council of the Bucharest Municipality starting on January 1, 2025. The provision appears in the draft of one of the draft decrees aimed at reducing budget costs, qualified by Prime Minister Marcel Čolaku as “reform of the budget system”. Heritage conservation experts contacted by HotNews.ro say the measure is a conflict of interest and, if passed, will lead to the destruction of heritage buildings. In addition, these areas have a small budget and are underfunded, so there will be no significant budget savings.