The decisions of the Bolojan Government that hit the politicians. Less money for parties and elected officials

Despite long negotiations in the coalition, in some cases even with the internal opposition, the Executive led by Ilie Bolojan, installed in June, managed in recent months to take measures that reduce the budgets of politicians, from parliamentarians to local leaders.

PHOTO Inquam / George Călin

Among the measures decided by the Bolojan Government in the last 6 months, a series of decisions affect the governing parties and their mayors or even their parliamentarians. Some politicians will have to cut their spending in 2026, and others are left with unfulfilled promises for several years already.

Less money for parties

The governing coalition decided in the last meeting between the party leaders to decrease the amounts received by the parties. More specifically, the subsidies received by political formations would be reduced by 10%.

Previously, in July 2025, the government assumed responsibility for the first package of fiscal-budgetary measures, which provided for, among other things, the reduction of subsidies by 40%, the measure to be applied the following year. “In 2026, the subsidy allocated to political parties will decrease by 40% compared to the level granted in 2024″, provided for the initiative, which however brought the level of subsidies back to the level of the amounts obtained before the 2024 election year.

In the last month of the year, the parties received 19,987,993 lei, the total for the current year amounting to 232,026,252 lei, according to the accumulated amounts from the AEP reports.

MPs' budgets cut by 10%

The amounts received by elected members of the Legislature for the parliamentary cabinets are also cut. Currently, each parliamentarian benefits from a lump sum of approximately 35,500 lei per month. The amount received by parliamentarians for their offices will decrease by 3,550 lei. Thus, the elected officials will be left with almost 32,000 lei.

The salary of a parliamentarian amounts to 18,720 lei gross, i.e. 11,000 lei net, and in the case of management positions it increases. Parliamentarians can occupy the positions of quaestors, secretaries, vice-presidents, group leaders, presidents and vice-presidents of committees. In the case of the president of the Chamber of Deputies, the salary reaches over 23,000 gross lei.

Parliamentarians also benefit from other amounts intended for transport, accommodation or per diem, which amount to 2% of the allowance.

Local government reform

And a measure for the reform of the administration was agreed in the coalition at the last meeting. One decision concerns the 10% reduction of expenses at the level of the central administration, without affecting the level of basic salaries.

Previously, the leaders of the coalition had agreed, for the local administration, a 10% reduction of the total occupied positions.

Local leaders, again without special pensions

A measure that also came with the 1st package of fiscal-budgetary measures, in July, once again postpones the special pensions of local leaders.

According to a 2019 ordinance, those who held the positions of mayors, vice mayors, presidents and vice presidents of county councils, starting in 1992, were granted the right to a special pension. “The amount of the allowance for the age limit is calculated as the product of the number of months of the mandate with 0.40% of the gross monthly allowance in payment”, the ordinance provides.

The payment has been postponed since July, for January 1, 2027, earlier than in previous years, but a definitive measure is needed, otherwise Romania could lose almost 900 million euros from the PNRR.