LIVE Deadlock in Parliament regarding the budget law. PSD left the committee meeting, after an amendment was rejected / Discussions without “any conclusion” in Grindeanu's office
Parliamentary parties continue discussions on the state budget for 2026 on Wednesday, March 18, in the joint budget-finance committees and then in the joint plenary. The final vote is to take place on Thursday, when the amendments adopted during these days in the committees will be subjected to the decisive test in Parliament, after accusations from PNL and USR related to a PSD-AUR deal.
The discussions in Grindeanu's office, “without conclusion”. Further discussion follows
“We have not reached any conclusion,” said the president of the Budget Commission, Bogdan Huțucă, after the discussions in Sorin Grindeanu's office.
“We are on break,” Huțucă continued, while fellow liberal Gabriel Andronache continued: “We are consulting.”
Discussions in parliamentary groups follow. Meanwhile, the Commission meeting is scheduled to resume at 1:45 p.m., but it is possible that it will be postponed even longer. It is not clear if the elected PSD will return to the Commission meeting.
At the same time, it is not clear if and how the deadlock at the committee will affect the Parliament's schedule, where the debate on the state budget law must begin at 4:00 p.m.
Discussions in Grindeanu's office
The PSD Minister of Labor Florin Manole and three liberals – respectively Alexandru Nazare (PNL Minister of Finance), Bogdan Huțucă (president of the budget committee) and Gabriel Andronache (head of the PNL parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies) are now in the office of the PSD president, Sorin Grindeanu.
The meeting is still suspended.
The PSD parliamentarians left the meeting
After the presidents of the commission stated that the amendment was not validated, the elected social democrats chose to leave the meeting. Daniel Zamfir announced that he no longer participates in the debates until the vote is clarified.
Now, there are 34 elected members present at the commission, thus meeting the quorum necessary to continue. The committee meeting was adjourned until 1:00 p.m.
“The PSD amendment did not pass“
Bogdan Huțucă (PNL, president of the Budget-Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies) announced that the PSD amendment was not validated.
“Take it to the plenary session. Apply the rules of the joint plenary session and pass it,” said Bogdan Huțucă to the PSD elected representatives, referring to tomorrow's final vote in Parliament.
At the same time, Gabriela Horga (PNL, president of the Budget Committee in the Senate) explained that an amendment is considered adopted in the committee, if it has the votes of half plus one of the members present. Which means that the PSD amendment failed, as it only has 23 votes in favor.
Scandal on the procedure after the vote on the PSD amendment
Committee leadership is seeking clarification in the rules to clarify whether AUR's votes, which chose not to vote, should be counted as against or should be counted as absent votes.
“Don't try to force the procedure! Don't try to force! The amendment passed,” shouted Manole.
The meeting was suspended for 5 minutes by the president of the Budget-Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Bogdan Huțucă, in order to clarify the situation.
Daniel Zamfir (PSD) shouts: “At the committees, there is no “present, I don't vote” option. You don't vote, you don't exist”
In the background, PSD minister Florin Manole and liberal Robert Sighiartău, a member of the commission, are arguing with each other. “Robert, you don't believe what you're saying. Don't lie. “Don't lie is the commandment,” Manole tells him.
Controversy between the Ministers of Labor and Finance on the aid requested by the PSD
The PSD amendment allocating a single aid for pensioners was no longer voted by the AUR, but was supported by the UDMR. More precisely, 23 senators and deputies from PSD, UDMR and PACE voted “for”, one abstained, the 8 parliamentarians from AUR chose not to vote, and 19 voted “against”
However, the final test will be given on Thursday, at the plenary vote, where the final decision will be made on all the amendments requested by the PSD regarding the solidarity package.
“Increasing budget pressure”
Until the vote in the committee today, during the debates, there were new counters between the liberals and the social democrats. PNL criticizes the amendment on the grounds that it leads to an increase in the budget deficit, having no source of financing.
“I am addressing the budgetary issue. From the approach of the Ministry of Finance, we understand that the revenues have been stretched to the maximum possible”, said Bogdan Huțucă (PNL), who presides over the commission meeting.
The Minister of Finance Alexandru Nazare said, for his part, that the amounts for social assistance have increased a lot in recent years.
“The pressure on the budget has become increasingly greater. (…) We do not support the amendment,” declared the liberal Minister of Finance.
He said that this money can be secured from European funds, and shortly afterwards he was contradicted by Florin Manole, the Minister of Labor (PSD). Thus, the two ministers contradicted each other on this topic.
PSD senator Daniel Zamfir also spoke on the subject, who said that these aids should not be seen as “alms”. “People are not numbers, they need support and the Government is obliged to give it,” added Zamfir.
USR and AUR also criticize the PSD proposal
Cezar Drăgoescu (USR) reproached the PSD that what they are doing is “irresponsible” and, like the PNL, accuses them of violating the protocol of the coalition, which stipulates that the parliamentarians of the governing parties will not vote or support amendments that increase expenses.
Ramona Bruynseels (AUR) intervened and urged her colleagues in the committee to imagine that they are “a Romanian watching what happens in the committee on TV”.
“You come here today and try to create a semblance of a parliamentary debate. You have come, ministers, as if you are in a debate on TV,” added the AUR deputy.
She went on to say she couldn't support a “so-called debate”.
“There are two options here, either you lie to us and try to create a semblance of transparency, or this coalition is completely dysfunctional,” Bruynseels said.
Petrișor Peiu, the leader of the AUR senators, also intervened: “We have the option of creating a Western country where retirees receive pensions or to create a Middle Ages country where retirees receive a few yellow coins depending on how the power wants. What is it that 2.8 million pensioners must receive aid? Let them receive indexation. Let's return to the principles.”
He said the AUR would not participate in the vote on “an amendment that totally distorts the principles of the rule of law.” Also, AUR sources stated that the MPs from the party led by George Simion will not vote for these aids even in plenary.
Zoltán Miklós, UDMR deputy, proposed “a compromise solution” that the text of the law stipulates that the difference of 1.1 billion be added to the first budget rectification. However, PSD refused to amend the amendment.
In the end, Manole said that “the protocol of the coalition does not pay at the supermarket, it does not pay taxes”, in the context in which the PSD has been accused several times of violating the protocol of the coalition.
The debates were resumed
The meeting of the Budget-Finance committees from the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies continues today.
Representatives of the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will come before the committee's parliamentarians to present their budgets and answer questions from senators and deputies.
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The first day of parliamentary debates highlighted – and intensified – the tensions between the ruling parties. Against the background of dissatisfaction with PSD's intention to submit amendments to the budget adopted by the coalition government last week, PNL sources told HotNews that the liberals will hold a meeting of the National Political Bureau at the weekend to determine whether or not they will remain in government. A similar internal consultation was announced among the Social Democrats.
The fights between the parties in the coalition continued on Tuesday, both between PSD and USR, and between PSD and PNL. The social democrats managed, with the support of the AUR, to pass some of the amendments in the “social package” that they insisted on, but in some cases they were left without the support of the opposition formation.
Slip of the former minister Adrian Câciu
One of the most tense moments of Tuesday's debate was centered on PSD deputy Adrian Câciu and PNL senator Gabriela Horga. The social democrat started shouting and grabbed the arm of the liberal, with whom he had an exchange of words on the subject of the debts of the companies subordinated to the Ministry of Transport.
The PNL demanded the sanctioning of Câciu, whom it accused of “relapsing in misogynistic and, recently, even xenophobic” attitude, and announced that it would refer the National Council for Combating Discrimination.
Later, the former PSD minister apologized to the liberal senator and said he regretted the “slip”.
“I will take this moment to apologize to my colleague, Mrs. Gabriela Horga, for going out earlier, during the day. I want to tell you that I regret it and it is not what characterizes me. It was a slip that came after those accusations that we are liars and irresponsible. But even so, I should not have this attitude”, said Adrian Câciu, quoted by Agerpres.
Debates continue on Wednesday
Tuesday's meeting lasted around 14 hours, and the discussions in the assembled budget-finance committees will resume – and end – on Wednesday.
Among the institutions that still have to present their budget on Wednesday, for example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labor remained.
This will happen in the early part of the day.
Also on Wednesday, from 16:00, the debates on the state budget for 2026 will move to the plenary session of the Parliament.
The plenary vote on the budget is to take place on Thursday, when the amendments adopted these days in the committees will be subjected to the final test.
