The government is preparing to cut the budgeters for July 1. What does it take from bonuses will give to vulnerable energy consumers
The government is looking for solutions to make savings on the budget starting with July 1, being taken into account including the reduction or elimination of increases granted to the budget, government sources said for Hotnews. These solutions will be included in a draft emergency ordinance that the Government intends to approve in Friday or Monday.
The rush of the government is given by the emergency of the adoption of protective measures, from July 1, of vulnerable energy consumers, for which large amounts from the state budget are required.
This morning the decision will be taken to include or not this GEO project on the agenda of the meeting on Friday, which is scheduled at 2pm.
If no clear decisions are made today, there is also the possibility that this project will be approved on Monday, June 30, the last day when the Government can adopt the emergency ordinance.
What bonuses are taken into account for discount or elimination
The project of GEO that the government prepares will platform several increases for the budget. One of these is the increase for harmful conditions, which will be capped at 300 lei gross both in the local and central public administration.
Currently this increase is at 15% of the salary, but not more than 1,500 gross lei.
By capping this increase to 300 lei gross, savings of 1.3 billion lei would be generated in the next 6 months. The economies for next year would be 2.6 billion lei.
According to HotNews sources, the stimulant for European funds, the antenna increase, the work complexity, the doctoral increase for civil servants and the privacy increase could also be cut.
Reducing exaggerated bonuses and incentives is one of the measures included in the government program.
In this document are not specified the types of bonuses that can be reduced or eliminated. There is only one mention related to “reducing bonuses to staff in debt hospitals”. Specifically, the government program provides for “optimizing the bonuses to the staff in the hospitals according to the number of medical services”.
Last year, total increases (by several categories) of 12.4 billion lei were granted, ie the equivalent of 2.4 billion euros, according to the data of the Ministry of Finance transmitted at the request of Hotnews.
“From the centralization of the data reported in 2024, at the level of the main authorizing officers of the general consolidated budget, payments were made in paragraph 10.01.05” increases for working conditions “in the amount of 7,862.9 million lei and to the paragraph 10.01.06” other bonuses “in the amount of 4,556.9 million lei, respectively a total of 12.419.8 million lei”, Finances at the request of Hotnews.
These bonuses are divided by the 1.3 million people employed in the state. But not all receive the same bonuses.
Over 3.7 million vulnerable consumers
One of the emergencies of the new government is to establish aid for vulnerable energy consumers.
From July 1, the ceiling scheme expires and the energy prices will double for many of the domestic consumers.
Of these, over 3.7 million are considered by vulnerable consumers according to the Ministry of Energy estimates, and the money for the vocals was not put in any budget lines, they confirmed for HotNews government sources, under the condition of anonymity.
Former ministers of energy and work, Sebastian Burduja and Simona Bucura – Oprescu initiated, a few weeks ago, an emergency ordinance on the introduction of a support mechanism for domestic consumers of electricity in the situation of energy poverty.
More aid variants for vulnerable
The mechanism provides for the monthly granting of energy tickets, from July 1 to March 31, 2026.
According to the estimates made by the Ministry of Energy, in this situation there are 3.7 million households.
The draft normative act does not provide for any figure, being left a goal next to the value of the aid. “Support – help worth … lei granted monthly to domestic consumers of electricity”, writes in the document. But, sources from the new government support, no impact on the budget has been calculated.
Former ministers have left the current government to choose a value of support. Until Thursday evening, several variants were discussed, or 36 lei, or 50 lei, or 72 lei. The last variant taken into account was 50 lei.
For the variant with 36 lei, the need for the budget is estimated at about 800 million lei, money that is not stipulated nowhere in the budget on 2025.
For the version with 50 lei, the budgetary effort is estimated at over 1.1 billion lei. For the version with 72 lei, an amount of almost 1.6 billion lei would be required.
“We understand that it is important and urgent to make a decision. However, we must discuss what the amount is and where we take it, because it was not included anywhere,” explained more government responsibilities, interviewed for this article.
