LIST Who are the opposition MPs who supported the state budget. What the elected officials from POT and SOS Romania say about their vote
Of the 319 “yes” votes that the coalition's 2026 state budget received, 28 came from MPs who are not part of the parties in power. It is about 11 unaffiliated parliamentarians, 9 from SOS Romania and 8 from POT.
The state budget was passed by the Parliament with a large majority on Friday. Furthermore, it must be promulgated by President Nicușor Dan. Before that, it will have to pass the constitutional review, because the AUR has already announced that it will challenge the law at the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR).
The law passed the Parliament with 319 votes “for”, 104 against, 1 abstention and two MPs who chose the “present, not voting” option.
Of the “for” votes, 28 came from parliamentarians who are not part of the parties forming the governing coalition:
- 11 unaffiliated;
- 9 from SOS Romania
- 8 from POT
Opposition MPs who voted “for”
Notable names on the list of non-affiliated MPs who backed the coalition budget include George Becali.
He was elected to Parliament on the AUR lists, but resigned from the party. The other unaffiliated parliamentarians who supported the state budget for 2026 are:
- Silviu Sorin Robe (elected on POT lists);
- Dumitru Manea (chosen on the SOS Romania lists):
- Robert-Daniel Ghiță (elected on the POT lists);
- Valentina Aldea (chosen on the POT lists);
- Mariana Vârgă (chosen on the SOS Romania lists);
- Aurora Tasica-Simu (chosen on the POT lists);
- Gheorghe Petru Pîclișan (elected on the POT lists);
- Călin Groza (elected on the POT lists);
- Andrei Csillag (elected on the POT lists);
- Dumitrita Albu (chosen on the POT lists).
The nine SOS Romania parliamentarians (out of 15) who voted for the coalition budget are:
- Ana-Marcela Bas;
- Florin Caragață;
- Tudor Ionescu;
- Simona-Elena Macovei Ilie;
- Sorin George Oltenașu;
- Nini Alexandru Pascalini;
- Elena Laura Toader;
- Mihai Adrian Țiu;
- Vedinaș Verginia.
From POT, those who voted for the Government budget are part of those who want to change the name of the parliamentary group and leave Anamaria Gavrilă without a group:
- Răzvan-Mirel Chiriță;
- Cristian Cîmpan;
- Codruța Maria Corcheş;
- Daniel Grofu;
- Sergiu Lucian Matei;
- Dan Mihai Nicolae;
- Gabriela Porumboiu;
- Gheorghe Valentin Raducea.
A deputy from SOS Romania explains the party's vote
Deputy Tudor Ionescu explained on Friday, contacted by HotNews, the reason why he and some of his colleagues decided to support the state budget law for the year 2026.
“We had amendments passed to the state budget law and some of them were accepted. We voted for our amendments that passed. Voting against the budget law meant voting against our own amendments, for which we fought in the committees”, declared Tudor Ionescu, deputy of SOS Romania.
Asked how he explains that, despite this, there were also his party colleagues who voted against, Ionescu said that the explanation is “very simple”: “Not everyone's amendments passed.”
“So there were probably colleagues whose amendments didn't pass and obviously they probably chose not to vote on the budget,” he explained.
HotNews also asked the president of the SOS Romania party, Diana Șoșoacă, for a reaction regarding Friday's vote, but he did not provide any reaction until the time of publishing this article.
Explanations from POT MPs
The legal status of the group of deputies of the Young People's Party (POT) is uncertain, as HotNews wrote in early February. The leader of the group, Răzvan Mirel Chiriță, asked the leadership of the Chamber of Deputies to change the name to “United for Romania”, but the president of the party, Anamaria Gavrilă, together with 5 other deputies, oppose and challenge Chiriță.
The leadership of the Parliament has been analyzing, since February, what needs to be done next and at the moment no decision has been made. Practically, the POT deputies who supported the Government's budget are part of the wing of the party that wants to separate itself from Anamaria Gavrilă and change the name of the group to “Uniți Pentru Romania”.
The leader of the group, Răzvan Mirel Chiriță, says that he and his colleagues voted “en bloc” for the adoption of the budget for 2026.
“I did this out of responsibility towards the citizens, not out of political support for the current coalition. The refusal of the budget would have meant a total blockage of the state: the delay of pensions, salaries, payments to hospitals, schools and suppliers, the loss of PNRR tranches and European co-financing – billions of euros blocked. In the current economic and geopolitical context, Romania cannot afford such an institutional vacuum,” the deputy told HotNews.
“We are not voting for the Bolojan Government”
Chiriță says that in the committees and in the plenary they supported all the opposition's amendments which “aimed at the real indexation of pensions and salaries, the reduction of fiscal pressure on citizens and SMEs, compensation for energy and transporters, increases in education and health”.
“Not all of them were adopted, but our active presence forced the coalition to accept at least some of them. We are not voting for the Bolojan Government – we are voting so that the Romanians do not pay the price of petty political games. The minimal stability of the state is more important than our or anyone else's arrogance. We remain a firm, vigilant and uncompromising opposition, but we choose social responsibility to the citizens, not destructive blockade”. he explained.
