“I don't make odds, I can tell you what the intention is”: Official response from the government on when it will adopt the 2026 budget

“The intention is for the budget for the current year to be completed as quickly as possible, an essential pillar for its establishment being the very ordinance to be adopted next week regarding the reform in the administration”, said Ioana Dogioiu on Thursday, when asked by HotNews if there are still chances that the budget for the current year will be adopted this month. At the beginning of this month, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said that the 2026 budget will be sent to Parliament around February 20.

“I do not assess the chances. I can tell you what the intention is. The intention is to be realized, completed and sent to the Parliament as quickly as possible”, said Ioana Dogioiu on Thursday, when asked by HotNews when the budget will be adopted this year.

Extraordinary government meeting for administration reform

The emergency ordinance on public administration reform will be adopted in an extraordinary meeting of the government at the beginning of next week, together with the ordinance on economic recovery measures, the spokeswoman of the Government also stated.

Is the 6.2% deficit target in danger?

HotNews pointed out in the conference that the budgetary impact of the savings estimated by the measures proposed in the emergency ordinance on the reform of the administration is lower by almost 2 billion lei than in the previous version of the bill put up for debate in January of this year.

Under these conditions, could reaching the 6.2% deficit target this year be in jeopardy?

“We should clarify this with the Minister of Finance. The Minister of Finance will make all these clarifications when he establishes the budget data. What I can tell you is that the GEO project is also in the approval procedure at the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Finance will certainly not approve a draft law that endangers the deficit target,” declared Ioana Dogioiu.

The 2026 budget, delayed by the lack of a decision on the reform in the administration

The realization of the budget for the current year depends on the adoption of the measures regarding the reform of the central and local public administration and the economic recovery measures.

Initially, the reform of the central and local public administration was launched in public consultation as a draft law, and Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced on February 4 that the Government would assume responsibility for this project together with the draft law on economic recovery measures.

“We are at the end of some measures that meant an economic contraction, but we are closing these measures. We are working on the preparation of the budget for this year. The deficit target is 6.2%, and inflation should be 4% at the end of the year. Next week we will finalize the discussions on the budget, and around February 20 we will send it to the Parliament. In the PNRR program we have 10 billion euros to absorb until August. In parallel with the preparation the budget, the administration reform package is being worked on. We are in the situation where it has entered the approval circuit and it should be adopted next week. The MJ's recommendation is to engage the responsibility of the Government,” declared Bolojan.

The coalition returned on February 16 on this decision, after several PSD ministers announced that they would not sign the necessary approvals for the adoption of the reform, asking for certain exceptions from the 10% reduction in personnel expenses.

The coalition then decided that “the reform of the central and local administration and the economic recovery package should be adopted through Emergency Ordinances, with some amendments that concern the institutions of the defense system, public order, national security, education, health and culture, which will achieve the savings through methods that will be established according to the specifics of the field.

Practically, the institutions that were exempted from the 10% reductions in the salary fund, will be able to reduce expenses in other ways, not only through salary reductions.

Administration reform through GEO: What job cuts are proposed and where there will be exceptions

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Development put in public consultation the draft Emergency Ordinance on the reform of the administration, in the version approved by the Coalition. The project provides for a 10% reduction in the positions held in the local public administration and a 10% reduction in personnel expenses for the central administration, but also exceptions.

Thus, for the education and culture systems, for public hospitals and public ambulance services, but also for the defense system, public order and national security, exceptions from the staff reduction are provided, with compensatory measures.

Exceptions to staff reductions come with compensatory measures

According to the draft normative act, better financial discipline and a 10% reduction in personnel expenses for the central public administration are foreseen.

“According to the decision of the coalition, for the education and culture systems, for public hospitals and public ambulance services, but also for the defense system, public order and national security, the project put in decision-making transparency provides for an exception from the reduction of staff, with compensatory measures”, announced the Ministry of Development.

“For example, according to the proposed measures, the retirement age for the military would increase, in the education system the doctorate increase will be reduced, and in the health system, among other things, a new hospital classification system and a performance-based salary system will be introduced. The reductions in salary expenses made by the ministries in 2025 will be taken into account when making the total reduction of 10%”, the Ministry also specified.

Budgetary impact: Annual savings of 2 billion lei less than the previous version

According to the estimates in the substantiation note, the budget savings this year will be 1.64 billion lei, and in the years 2027-2030, the savings will be over 3.07 billion lei.

The figures are greatly reduced compared to those presented in the draft law previously debated, where savings of 3.36 billion lei were estimated this year and over 5.7 billion lei in the period 2027-2030.

In the statement of reasons of the draft GEO, it is said that according to the medium and long-term budget plan, Romania has assumed a trajectory of reducing the budget deficit from 7.9% in 2024 to below 3% in 2031 based on assumptions related to public expenditures and their evolution in the period 2025-2031 which would determine an adjustment of 6 ppt, respectively a reduction from 41.9% of GDP to 35.9% of GDP in 2031, and in this context a series of measures are needed to reduce the share of public expenditure in GDP.