Finance minister sends reassuring message to Romanians working abroad, after legislative proposal that requires all transfers above €1000 to be reported

‘The money sent home by the Romanians comes from honest work’ says the minister of Finance Eugen Teodorovici, stating that only after a discussion at the Government level there will be a “very clear” position on the legislative proposal The Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering (ONPCSB), requesting the declaration of the origin of the money sent by the Romanians from the diaspora. According to a law project proposed by ONPCSB, the Romanian banks will be compelled to report all transfers of funds from a foreign country to Romania if the amount exceeds EUR 1,000.

“The impact is positive, any amount entered in the country, no matter if they are European funds or money from the Romanians who are outside the country and send it home”, says Teodorovici. “Regarding that draft of a normative act, it is not a proposal of the Ministry of Finance.”

According to Teodorovici, there is not a logical point for this proposal, which may be an European provision meant to limit illegal work in UE. He added that he already had talks with ONPCSB and they told him that Romania is the only state that did not transpose this European provision.

“We shall see the exact situation and if we can postpone this transposition, we will. We assume, as a state, the non-transposition of a normative act at the moment when this act requires it. There are many such examples, European countries that accept and decide not to transpose a specific European provision, because it is better for them as an economy. We know clearly that they will eventually lose at the European Court of Justice, but it is the decision of the Member State, so every state can decide. The money sent to the country by the Romanians comes from honest work, and not from unclean activities”, says Teodorovici, who added that there will be also talks at the Government level to state a clear position over this matter.

According to World Bank data, Romanians living abroad sent USD 4.944 billion to their families at home last year, a record high number, up 41.7 percent compared with 2016.