New consultations today in Cotroceni. Nicușor Dan has announced that today the sketch will be announced with the set of measures and the government program. “I appreciate that all people are reasonable”
Nicușor Dan, the President of Romania, holds a press conference at the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest, June 4, 2025. Inquam Photos / George Călin
More details about how the PSD-PNL-USR-UDMR coalition will look like to be announced today, after the parties will have new consultations. President Nicușor Dan said that today a sketch will be announced with the measures decided, but it is not the final version.
“There will be consultations in Cotroceni with the leaders of the parties and minorities. We are in a discussion phase and I really appreciate that all people are reasonable, that is, I speak of the leaders of the parties. Expect us to come up with the set of measures.
He was confident in the success of the dialogue between the parties. “There were exchanges of opinions, but the discussions were very civilized,” said the head of state.
The Governance Program, established before a prime minister's nomination
Prior to the eventual publication of the draft program, President Nicușor Dan will still have a discussion with the PSD, PNL, USR and UDMR presidents in which the final decisions will be taken on the fiscal measures.
The political agreement on a government program does not mean that a candidate for the prime minister will be announced. President Dan said that this issue will be approached only next week, concurrently with the discussions for the governance agreement between the parties.
On Sunday, he was optimistic that “in ten days, so” will be a designated prime minister, even the investigated government.
According to Hotnews sources, Ilie Bolojan remains the preferred version by Nicușor Dan, but the president has not excluded any other scenarios, such as a technocrat or a rotation of the PNL and PSD. “I confirm that these discussions have taken place. At the moment, no variant is excluded,” said the president in the press conference on June 4.
The political negotiations that will start will include, besides the post of prime minister and the portfolios of ministers and the head of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the heads of the SRI and SIE, the CCR judges to be appointed in the coming years, the leadership of ANI and the People's Advocate.
Final decisions regarding the reduction of deficit
Regarding the measures to reduce the budget deficit, the final decision will be taken starting from a draft that was developed following the discussions in the technical working gau that had several meetings from Monday to Thursday.
Among the measures discussed are the one related to VAT growth. There are several scenarios including the increase of the standard share from 19 to 21%. The percentage is still in question. It is also taken into account the renunciation of reduced VAT quotas, except for food, water or medicines, representatives of a party who participated in the discussions from Cotroceni told HotNews. For VAT -mentioned categories could be 5 or 9%
In addition, there is also the proposal to introduce a tax on transaction or value, ie a tax that is charged at each transaction with the card, but it did not meet the support of all participants in discussions.
The tax on dividends could increase from 10%, as it is now, to 16%. Also, the increasing tax increases are in question, but the percentage has not yet been established.
Investment cuts were also proposed, of 10 billion lei in the first phase, then 20 billion, but there were voices that opposed this measure, according to Hotnews sources.
The experts proposed bonus cuts and the merging of some institutions. Could be cut:
- increase in case of extending terms with EU funds projects
- the increase for the complexity of the work
- the increase of confidentiality and secret information.
Another measure would be the “solidarity” tax to pay for those who have income greater than 10,000 lei per month, with whom representatives of all parties have not agreed.
Also, it was taken into account the introduction of the payment of social health insurance contributions (CASS) by the pensioners who have income over a certain threshold. Nicușor Dan confirmed the existence of such a proposal, but avoided specifying the threshold from which CASS perception would be required.
