Did the Romanian Parliament pass a law practically banning cash in order to reinstall totalitarianism? No, that's not true: PL-x 29/2023 is a draft law seeking to ensure that all Romanian workers have bank accounts and receive their salaries in them, to discourage illegal work.
The claim originated from a video (archived here) published on TikTok by user @pichaku.picaku under the title, translated to English: "Reinstalling totalitarianism." It read:
Listen carefully until the end! Total state control.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri May 19 12:01:31 2023 UTC)
PL-x 29/ 2023 aims to see all Romanians open bank accounts and receive their salaries there, instead of receiving cash in an envelope -- a measure to try to curb illegal work. The law also requires all retailers/vendors to allow customers to pay by card, according to Economedia and Avocat.Net. This does not amount to a ban on cash payments.
In addition, the draft law was sent back to the parliamentary commissions for debate until June 9, 2023. Economedia also reported that the provision on the payment of salaries will be removed, to give employees the right to choose how they will receive their money.
