President: It's Up to Coalition to Choose Which Growth Measures to Use

Bucharest/Bratislava, 13 May (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini stated on Tuesday it was up to the ruling coalition to decide which pro-growth measures it would choose from a broad list of proposals. Speaking after a meeting of representatives of the Bucharest Nine (B9) countries, Pellegrini claimed that the public shouldn't overreact to suggestions by some political parties to abolish recreational vouchers. "I would not view it dramatically when one of the political parties today is proposing to scrap, for example, recreational vouchers. It is only one of 90 ideas that someone proposed somewhere during various working groups. Now it's up to the coalition to decide," he said. Pellegrini added that he would welcome a more professional debate on economic growth measures involving experts and affected stakeholders, rather than political disputes within the coalition. "I would rather urge the government and ministers to come forward not only with cosmetic pro-growth measures that may sound good but won't have a major impact on boosting the economic growth of Slovakia," Pellegrini noted. He added that, in the short term, the government was likely to present a package of measures with only a minimal impact on the state budget. The president said he expected the government, while drafting the 2027 state budget, to also introduce longer-term measures that could negatively affect public finances in the short term but significantly support future economic growth. "So far, I have not seen this yet," Pellegrini underlined. According to the president, the transaction tax is not a standard instrument in the tax systems of developed economies. He said the government should reconsider the measure. "If it truly slows down the economy or shifts part of transactions into the grey economy, where income is not declared simply to avoid paying the transaction tax, then it would be better to abolish the transaction tax altogether and return that grey part of the economy to the legal sector," he said. He added that the government should instead focus on properly taxing company profits and small business income. Pellegrini also rejected suggestions that the government was preparing excessive spending ahead of 2027. "I do not think the government will prepare some major spending spree in 2027 simply to attract voters or gain their favour," he said. He added that numerous social measures have already been introduced in recent years and there was little room left for broad additional measures. mf