The Minister of Development explains the system agreed by the coalition for cuts in the administration. “At central we expect a higher financial impact than at local”

The Minister of Development, Cseke Attila, told Digi24 on Tuesday that the coalition reached an agreement “on the entire administration package”, including the formulas that will be applied to reduce expenses at the central and local level.

Cseke Attila explained that these mechanisms “are different, like the way of application, because the systems are different”.

According to the minister, a 10% reduction in personnel expenses was agreed upon for the central administration.

“It is, in the central public administration, a 10% reduction in personnel expenses for all the main credit orderers, with the exception of personnel expenses from hospitals, pre-university education and nurseries. For the rest of the central public authorities, it is a reduction in personnel expenses in 2026, compared to the personnel expenses with which 2025 closes,” he declared.

He stated that “an analysis will take place, because at the central administration we have institutions whose structure is regulated by law, others by Government decision”, but “the text will be that of a 10% reduction”.

“The ministries will be given the possibility that within the system of each ministry, because the reduction refers to the entire system, i.e. also to subordinate institutions, agencies, decentralized services, etc., this reduction in personnel expenses will take place differently (…), but overall there must be reductions of 10%”, stated the Minister of Development.

What the coalition established regarding local government reform

Cseke Attila said that with regard to these reductions, “a different formula was agreed, because the local public administration has a regulation on certain thresholds, on criteria, etc.”

“Here are two possible options in 2026, which are alternatives. One option is to reduce posts by 30% at UATs, which generates a reduction of vacant and filled posts, depending on how busy the organizational chart is – where there are a lot of filled posts, there it will generate a more significant reduction of filled posts. Where there are many vacant posts, that is, the mayors have effectively managed the organizational chart and the local structure, there will be a reduction of only vacant posts or to a lesser extent of the occupied positions”, continued the minister.

He specified that “and here there is the alternative that, if it is desired, a reduction of personnel expenses, not of occupied positions, in 2026, compared to 2025, by 10%”.

Expected financial impact

Asked how much money will be saved after the implementation of these spending cuts, the Minister of Development said that in the case of the central administration, this will be known only after the “analysis of each ministry”, but the Government estimates that the financial impact will be “higher than at the local level”.

“At the central administration, the final calculation will be after this analysis is done for each ministry, but this figure is certainly higher than the impact on the local administration, where the impact calculated by us is 1.7 billion, so at the central we expect a higher financial impact than at the local”, concluded the Minister of Development, Cseke Attila.