Traian Băsescu says what is Romania's biggest problem: “It's hard to imagine how we will manage”

The former president of Romania draws attention to the interest burden on the public debt, which he says is growing at an impressive speed.

Traian Băsescu's statements were made during a show on Digi24. Asked what he considers to be the biggest problem that Romania has, Traian Băsescu said that interest on loans.

“The interest on loans is growing at an impressive speed. So, this year, in 2025, we paid about 11 billion euros in interest. And the perspective is of growth, considering the high interest rates at which the loan was made,” said Traian Băsescu.

“This can generate a major difficulty at some point, because, I'll give you an example, in the next financial year of the European Union, the financial year 2028-2034, we have about 60 billion. If we pay 10-11 billion every month (no per year, not per month) in interest, basically we pay the 60 billion euros from the European Union in interest. It's almost hard to imagine how we will manage”, he added supported by Traian Băsescu.

Traian Băsescu claims that this growth could only be stopped with a zero budget deficit, but Romania ended 2025 with a deficit of 6.4%.

“Technically, I don't really see a solution here. The problem is to fight to go from the situation where you are at a zero budget deficit in the shortest possible time. So you stop increasing your debt when you reach zero budget deficit. As long as you have a deficit, even the famous 3%, that means you are increasing your debt. You increase your debt, you also increase the interest you pay. Or if the debt rolls, the interest does not roll over, it is paid annually, it is paid precisely and the risk of being declared in default comes from the non-payment of interest, because that is, in fact, we will have to borrow not only for the debt, but we also borrow money to pay the interest”, explained the former president.