“Let it start from the top – ministries, agencies.” The grievances of the mayors who met with Bolojan and Grindeanu / What grades do they give to the Government

More than 500 mayors participated on Tuesday in the General Assembly of the Association of Municipalities. Both Prime Minister Bolojan and Sorin Grindeanu were criticized by the present mayors. HotNews spoke with six of them about the measures proposed by the Government for the public administration, but also about the increase in fees and taxes.

Mariana Gâju (PSD) is mayor of Cumpăna commune in Constanța and first vice-president of the Association of Municipalities in Romania. She said that she does not believe that the measures aimed at reducing the expenses of the public administration will “suffice” Romania's budget.

“They will not cover the deficits that the national budget has, but neither will we, at the level of the communes, considering that they are communes that have collected the fees and taxes in percentage of 84%, 90% and they have proven to be insufficient for supporting the co-financing of the investment projects that we have in progress”, explained Gâju.

PSD mayor: “Let's start from there, from the top”

She said that the increases in fees and taxes must be done “not just with the soul, but taking into account the long term, until 2028”:

“I, at least as the mayor of the Cumpăna commune, am interested in the sustainable development of the commune through large infrastructure projects. I cannot support the co-financing of an industrial park if I do not have support from a higher level.”

When asked what grade she would give to the Government, Mariana Gâju said that she was not in a position to do so, but she recalled the fact that the current government is made up of five parties.

“This coalition must not negotiate internally, to be able to come out afterwards with cuts only at the local public administration level. And start from there, from above, ministries, national agencies and, why not, sometimes go down even to the county level,” she said.

USR Mayor: “I don't think the Government did well by the way it communicated”

Another mayor, this time from USR, says that such measures are needed.

“I think they are very correct and we expect to be able to implement them, in a real way, on a local level, in our communities, in our small communes”, said Andreea Anghel, USR mayor in Turnu Roșu commune in Sibiu.

She criticizes, however, the lack of application rules, which, she says, leads to blockages. She says she is “absolutely confident and optimistic” that the Government's measures will put things back on track.

“If I didn't believe that, I would have stayed in the private company, in the IT company, from which I came to the local public administration. I am a new mayor, in my first term, I have been in office for a year and two months, and I am absolutely convinced that these are some correct measures for the economic recovery later on,” she said.

She stated that she would have given the Government a score of 10 if it had adopted the measures when it had announced them, “6-8 months ago, when they appeared in the public space”. Andreea Gheorghe finally gave a score of 4 for “procrastination and 9 for measures taken”

“I don't think that the Government did well in the way it communicated. These measures are necessary, but if they are not communicated correctly, they create great disturbances in the public space and among citizens. It gives people the opportunity to be revolted and to be angry. “We start with you, the people at the bottom”, and for the people it was not the best approach. If he came with the first example, yes, look, we start from the state structures, yes, we start from the parliamentarian or from us, from our structures, I am absolutely convinced that even if they had cut more or raised taxes more, ordinary people would not have been so upset because they would have seen this different approach,” she explained.

UDMR Mayor: “You have to go out in front of the fortress and explain”

Szabó József Levente, UDMR mayor in Ceuaşu de Câmpie commune in Mureș county, says that the new measures forced the mayors to go out in front of the people and tell them that local taxes and fees must be increased.

“Last year in September, there was the ordinance that we are not allowed to spend more than in the first quarter of 2025. It doesn't seem right to me. The salary of the staff in the town hall is something. And the prime minister has to work there a little. We want development in our commune.”

Szabó József Levente says that he does not think that the Government's measures are so useful, but also that such measures would have been needed anyway.

“Local taxes and fees were not very high anyway and they were bearable, but suddenly 70% is a lot. More than that, we want that percentage of local taxes and fees to remain in that UAT,” he explained.

He also did not want to give a note to the Government, but he said that the mayors are going through a very difficult period:

“You have to go out in front of the city and explain. People say that we, the mayors, adopt (ed. – the measures), but we only respect the Fiscal Code that is imposed by law.”

What PNL mayors say: “Everyone voted, you can't blame the prime minister”

Mayor Iulian Boț from Liești commune, Galați, is a PNL member and has been the mayor's seat since 2008. He told HotNews that the measures taken into account by the coalition “will do nothing except increase the level of tax collection”.

“Once we have these taxes collected much more effectively, this means development. The current Government is criticized for increasing local taxes and fees. It is even criticized by some fellow mayors. But it was thought out by the governing coalition, because they all voted, you cannot blame the prime minister for coming up with the increase in taxes and fees,” said Boț, in defense of Prime Minister Bolojan.

Asked if the measures will reduce the budget deficit, the mayor declared that neither taxes nor local taxes will decrease.

“The standard of living is still increased in Romania, we complain in vain that it is difficult. It is more difficult, but expectations, populism, and sovereignty have also increased, and everyone is waiting for it to be given to them,” he added.

He gave the Government a score of 7, “for courage”.

“We are aware that the budgetary apparatus of the local public administration must somehow be thinned”

Tudorel Gîscă, also from the PNL, is the mayor of Racovița commune in Sibiu and says that “we have to be aware that the increase (n. ed. – of fees and taxes) had to be done. But it had to be prepared before, not like this, from one day to another”. He also appreciated that the measures are drastic, but gave the Government a passing grade.

Mayor of the Ciucea commune in Cluj, Radu-Florin Abrudan, said that the measures aimed at the public administration must take into account the specifics of each community, “because some have certain problems, others have other problems, and then we cannot apply a uniform correction everywhere”

“We are aware that the budget apparatus in the local public administration needs to be thinned somehow, but we cannot leave certain investments and certain development things in communities without people to be able to function,” he said.

Radu-Florin Abrudan explained that he hopes the measures will help reduce the deficit:

“The idea is that we don't want some to take certain measures, to relaunch the economy and make savings as much as we can, and then others come to blow up the country again. We know that in the past there were situations where some made savings, and when others came, they started dismantling again and we returned to the old problems,” added the mayor.

The mayor also said that he could not give a grade to the Government, but that it would be a very good one “because they are trying to fix things”.