Mehmet Şimşek forgets austerity measures: 'Ministry of Treasury and Finance is building a vehicle fleet'

Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, who announced public austerity measures on May 17 and banned the purchase of vehicles for the public sector for 3 years, has bypassed the measures he himself announced.

According to the 2025 budget, it has been learned that 2,298 vehicles will be purchased, 500 of which are for the Ministry of Treasury and Finance.

Making a statement on the subject, Republican People's Party (CHP) İzmir Deputy Sevda Erdan Kılıç said, "Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, who banned the purchase of vehicles for the public sector, is building a fleet. He requested exactly 500 vehicles from the central government budget. Austerity is the excuse, the fleet is magnificent."

Kılıç continued as follows:

“Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek appeared before the cameras exactly six months ago and announced the austerity measures package. The package had everything in it. One of the first items was the 3-year ban on the purchase of vehicles for the public sector. The package was also published in the Official Gazette as a Presidential circular. But let alone 3 years, 6 months have not even passed, and a fleet has practically emerged from the 2025 budget.

In 2025, exactly 2,298 vehicles will be purchased for public institutions and organizations from the budget. Passenger cars, pickups... The list has everything. Hundreds of vehicles are being allocated for everyone from the Presidency to ministries, from universities to the smallest institutions. And look who is getting the lion's share of the budget for vehicles? Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, who says there is no money when it comes to raises for retirees, and who even removed the shuttle services used by civil servants for the sake of austerity measures. Minister Şimşek will buy exactly 500 vehicles for his own ministry. Mr. Minister, austerity is the excuse, your fleet is magnificent.

''YOU TOOK AWAY THE SHUTTLE SERVICE FROM THE CIVIL SERVANT''

One said it, the other wrote it, but it all remained just talk. Vehicles are being allocated from the central government budget to the Presidency, which published the austerity measures as a circular and said, 'Under no circumstances will passenger vehicles be purchased.' Exactly 20 vehicles upon the request of the Presidency. Those who do not give raises to retirees by saying we will tighten our belts, those who take from the throats of civil servants and employees, are sailing their own ships while saying we are in the same boat.

All items of the budget are falling apart. Mehmet Şimşek, who tells the public to tighten their belts, is building a fleet when it comes to his turn. For a government that uses the public's budget only for the benefit of its own power, the 2025 budget has turned into a fiasco before it has even been implemented. First of all, I ask Mr. Mehmet Şimşek: Just six months ago, you took away the shuttle service from the civil servant in the name of austerity; you banned the purchase of vehicles in the public sector for three years, on what basis are you buying 500 vehicles today? I ask the President, why do you not comply with the circular you published yourselves? To those who use austerity measures to further impoverish the poor working class, who talk about austerity when it comes to the worker but build a fleet when it comes to themselves, my words are: austerity is the excuse, the fleet is magnificent.

According to the budget proposal, the Ministry of Justice will purchase 145 vehicles, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 35 vehicles, the Ministry of Health (excluding ambulances) 53 vehicles, the Ministry of Family and Social Services 30 vehicles, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism 10 vehicles, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization 19 vehicles, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 15 vehicles, the Presidency of Religious Affairs 6 vehicles, AFAD 25 vehicles, and the Revenue Administration 85 vehicles.

The Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Interior, the General Directorate of Security, and the Gendarmerie General Command, which are within the scope of defense and security services and are stated to only make vehicle purchases in urgent and mandatory cases according to the austerity circular published by the Presidency, broke the budget record. The Ministry of National Defense will purchase 177, the Ministry of Interior 25, the Gendarmerie 169, the Coast Guard 35, and the Police 710 vehicles.”

News Source: 12punto