How Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan explains the increase in the SRI budget by almost 14%: “This is the reality”
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan explained on Thursday the increase in the budget for the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), which exceeds 5.2 billion lei in the draft budget for 2026, increasing by 13.8%. “The approach is simplistic and strictly accounting,” the prime minister said.
“We have to admit that there are ministries that have increased their budgets, or authorities, because they benefit from certain lines of funding, please check, for example the Ministry of Defense, or the Ministry of Transport,” said the prime minister.
“SRI has programs based on both European funds and the SAFE component. For example, the purchase of utility helicopters, other equipment related to access to both European and SAFE funds,” continued Bolojan.
According to the prime minister, these financings are reflected in the budgets of the institutions that implement the projects.
“Therefore, accumulating these amounts in the budget of these institutions, including the SRI, certain ministries, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which did not have such projects, obviously does not show the surplus that appears in those that have these projects”, he explained.
“In all the systems related to public order and safety, the reduction of personnel expenses will be done in the next period and we are working in this direction, so that by increasing the retirement age, in the following years we will have an increase in the retirement age, which will mean savings, because the personnel will not have to be replaced by new generations. This is the reality”, concluded Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
The government adopted in the extraordinary meeting on Thursday evening all the acts on the agenda, including the state budget law for the year 2026.
According to the project put in decision-making transparency on Tuesday, significant increases in funding for some ministries and institutions in fields such as energy, defense, European funds or digitalization, but also for the High Court and the General Prosecutor's Office. There will also be important increases for the Presidential Administration and the SRI. Instead, Health is among the areas for which the budget will be reduced compared to last year.
The budget of the Romanian Intelligence Service exceeds 5.2 billion lei, increasing by 13.8%.
