The financier nicknamed the “mother of budgets” is leaving the Ministry of Finance after 35 years
Daniela Pescaru was released on request from the position of state secretary in the Ministry of Finance. She stated, in a statement for profit.ro, that she is going to retire after 35 years of working in the ministry.
“I entered as a rookie in 1991 and went through all the stages of evolution in my career as a civil servant. Now I'm going back to my post as general director, and after a week I'm going to retire. I have 40 years of work, hard work, and it's time to leave the place to young people,” she declared.
Daniela Pescaru graduated from ASE – Economic Planning and Cybernetics in 1986, and later she also had postgraduate studies at ASE and the National Defense College.
In 1986 he was employed as an analyst-programmer at the Aluminum Processing Enterprise – Slatina, between 1989 and 1991 he was an analyst-programmer at the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, and since 1991 he has been working at the Ministry of Finance.
Why was it called the “mother of budgets”
In the ministry, he was alternately a referent, expert or senior advisor, then for 4 years head of service at the Budgetary Programming of personnel expenses in the budgetary sector, 2 years deputy general director at the General Division of Budgetary Programming, 5 years general director at the General Division of Budgetary Programming.
Since 2014, with a two-year break (2019-2021), during which he returned to the basic position, that of general director, Pescaru has been secretary of state responsible for the budget, regardless of the political color of the ministers.
According to Cotidianul, she was nicknamed the “mother of budgets” or the “new Gherghina”, after the economist Gheorghe Gherghina, due to her influence in the distribution of public money. She attended almost every meeting of the Coalition in recent years.
Political controversies
Daniela Pescaru's name also appeared in the press during the Ciolacu Government, being accused of preparing the nationalization of the II pillar of pensions through an introduced amendment.
Then, the former Minister of Finance, Marcel Boloș, pointed to Daniela Pescaru as the guilty party for the amendment that appeared to the package of fiscal measures that Marcel Ciolacu took responsibility for in Parliament in September of 2023.
“Thinking about the duties and responsibilities that a secretary of state has, I don't know how he ended up making the amendment,” said Marcel Boloș on CNN's Antena 3.
Ciolacu, who did not accept the amendment, also pointed towards her. “There was no discussion from either the PSD or the PNL regarding Pillar II. Nicolae Ciucă and I never spoke at the Coalition about Pillar II,” he said of the amendment.
She was also accused in 2026 of asking in a coalition meeting to cut the food ratio for policemen, soldiers and other budget workers. The measure was not supported by the coalition.
