Prime Minister Bolojan: “We closed the coalition in good order/ On Wednesday or Thursday, the Government will send the budget to Parliament”
The political leaders of the governing coalition. Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea
Ilie Bolojan said, in a show on B1 TV, that Wednesday's coalition meeting was not marked by disputes between the parties, and the PSD communiqué after the meeting is “in contradiction with reality”. The prime minister estimated that next week, on Wednesday or Thursday, the draft budget for 2026 will be sent to Parliament for adoption.
According to Bolojan, the budget is built on a deficit target of 6.2% to reduce the cost of interest in percentages and the total envelope of interest costs at which the Romanian state borrows.
In these circumstances, the room for maneuver to adopt social measures is limited. The prime minister specified that the aid for pensioners will be granted from the state budget, at the level of 2025, of 1.7 billion lei. The rest of the measures are to be financed from the European Social Fund, and the financing will be attracted following the collaboration between the Ministry of Investments and European Projects and the Ministry of Labour.
A new meeting about the budget at the Government / The coalition leaders did not reach a final agreement. PSD, serial accusations against Ilie Bolojan
The PSD communique, “in contradiction with reality”
“From the second half of the year, things should pick up: inflation will stabilize and the economy will adapt to the new volume of spending, with a relatively stable volume of investments,” said Ilie Bolojan.
He was surprised by the PSD communiqué in which he was virulently criticized for opposing solidarity measures and reducing the funds available for local administrations.
“At the coalition meeting, we closed in good order and please ask the other participants if there were any contradictory discussions on these proposals. The meeting was in the morning, it was in good order, it remained that the last corrections will be made, that the budget will be sent, in detail, to all the parties by the end of this week and that next week, in the middle of the week, on Wednesday or Thursday, the government will send the budget to Parliament for adoption. When I came to you and saw this statement. It is completely at odds with what happened today and with reality. This is the truth,” said Bolojan.
He said there was “a rational atmosphere” at the meeting, which also discussed topics related to investments and funds for local governments
Under these conditions, the prime minister finds it “incomprehensible” that the coalition meetings are taking place normally, and the subsequent communiqués are different from reality.
“I don't think this helps either the Social Democratic Party or the coalition in general, because people expect us to do normal things for this country. I don't understand why we have to have scandals when we already have the budget delayed and we have to close it. If the budget is not cut well, it will generate serious disruptions in budget spending in the coming months. If we close this budget in a balanced form, it is a fair budget that is based on collectable revenues and on expenses that are correctly estimated, then Romania closes this fiscal aid cycle this year,” the prime minister emphasized.
PSD accusations
PSD accuses Ilie Bolojan of “defiant attitude” and blocking the budget
PSD accused Prime Minister Bolojan of blocking the negotiations for the budget because he included in the project “a series of provisions that totally contradict the requests expressed by the party leaders”. Also, the social democrats say that Ilie Bolojan has an “inflexible and defiant” attitude towards the governing partners.
Through a post on Facebook, the PSD accuses that “Ilie Bolojan has caused a new deadlock in the governing coalition today during the negotiations for the drafting of the State Budget”.
They report that Bolojan included in the draft budget, which has not yet been finalized, a number of provisions with which the rest of the governing parties do not agree. Among them are, according to the post of the social democrats, the underfunding of the solidarity package requested by the PSD, the cutting of investments, the “confiscation” from the state budget “of a substantial part of the sums due to the local authorities”.
“Through this inflexible and defiant attitude towards the Coalition partners, the prime minister becomes directly responsible for blocking the adoption of the budget and for the instability it induces in the current government”, PSD also transmits.
They announce that immediately after receiving the new form of the budget, the PSD leadership will meet in a meeting to decide “the political actions that are required”. According to HotNews information, the PSD meeting will take place next week, Monday.
