Reforms on hold
The reforms promised by the Romanian Government are still taking shape
Bogdan Matei, 17.02.2026, 14:00
Increased value added tax, higher fuel excise duties, higher fees and taxes, which in some places have doubled or even tripled compared to last year, ever-increasing energy bills, inflation eroding Romanians’ purchasing power. Analysts almost unanimously conclude that all the economic and social turmoil of recent months has hit taxpayers exclusively, while political decision-makers have not even begun the reform of the state, which they have been promising for more than half a year, since the current four-party (PSD-PNL-USR-UDMR) government, declared pro-European, was formed.
The reform of magistrates’ pensions will once again be on the agenda of the Romanian Constitutional Court (CCR), after five postponements of a decision; the latest came after the High Court of Cassation and Justice asked the CCR to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union, to verify whether the changes proposed by the government comply with EU law. On Wednesday, the constitutional judges are expected to decide whether to grant this request or declare it inadmissible. Accepting this request would postpone the ruling on magistrates’ pensions by at least several months.
The government spokesperson has stated that it is only a matter of days before Romania is officially informed by Brussels whether it has lost the tranche of funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, worth over 230 million euros, which depended on this reform. There is no harmony either within the government coalition, which, meeting after meeting, is trying to draft the public administration reform, the economic recovery package, and this year’s state budget.
The issues are interrelated, according to the press, because the money saved from public administration will be used for economic recovery, and the budget will be based on the two packages. However, Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and Social Democratic leaders have not agreed on how to reduce spending in local and central public administration. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) argues that indiscriminate cuts to public sector salaries are not reform and could cause serious bottlenecks in critical sectors of the budgetary system.
In turn, the Save Romania Union (USR) accuses the PSD of delaying the adoption of the administrative reform package. What seems unsolvable in Bucharest has begun to be resolved elsewhere in the country. The entire media has reported on an absolute first in Romanian administration. The mayors of two municipalities in Satu Mare County (northwest), Beltiug and Socond, have officially announced that they want to merge their town halls. The decision was made to reduce budgetary expenditure, as the mayors acknowledged that their localities can no longer sustain themselves financially. (MI)
