Government postpones second package of fiscal measures
Romania's governing coalition has decided to postpone the adoption of the second package of fiscal measures to reduce the budget deficit.
Mihai Pelin, 24.07.2025, 14:00
The governing coalition has decided to postpone, until mid-August, the adoption of the second package of fiscal-budgetary measures, which includes, among other things, the reform of state-owned companies. During this period, all local investment projects will be analyzed one by one, as the Social Democratic Party (PSD) wanted and obtained from its governing partners. The Social Democrats managed to impose their arguments regarding the continuation of the program during the coalition meeting, says the party leader, Sorin Grindeanu. ”Anghel Saligny” is a program for the modernization of local communities through investments in county and local roads, water infrastructure, sewage and treatment plants and the expansion of natural gas distribution networks.
Strategic state companies operating in a competitive market must be treated differently, the Deputy Prime Minister Tánczos Barna drew attention, in turn, referring to Nuclearelectrica and Hidroelectrica, both profitable. Speaking about a correlation of the salaries of directors and employees with performance, he also mentioned the Romanian Railways (CFR), which he said should receive the compensation that railway companies receive anywhere in the world. And the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Ciprian Şerban, announced that the general directors of CFR will reduce their allowances by 10%. Also, at CFR Infrastructure, a decision was made to reduce the working schedule to four days a week, for a limited number of employees, without affecting traffic safety.
CFR Passenger Service will reduce unjustified expenses through some measures, including the suspension of underperforming trains and the non-granting of overtime and festive hours, Ciprian Şerban also said. The main trade union confederations have warned the government with an all-out strike focused on the dismissal of the executive and blocking the start of the school year, if the austerity measures expected in the coming weeks confirm that balancing the budget deficit will be left exclusively on the shoulders of the vast majority of the population. The education trade unions announce that, although on vacation, their members will organize protests next week, especially against the increase in the teaching norm which would result in the loss, they say, of 15,000 teacher positions, even though the relevant minister, Daniel David, denied this. The union leaders have obtained the inclusion of their representatives in the working groups in charge of the main directions of the reform.
Regarding the second package of measures aimed at reducing the budget deficit, Bogdan Hossu, leader of Cartel Alfa, stated that the reform of state-owned companies requires a much more in-depth legislative analysis, since many of the solutions proposed by the government risk being annulled by the Constitutional Court. In turn, the president of the National Trade Union Bloc, Dumitru Costin, stressed that the state needs to stop acting in a discretionary and unpredictable manner and to have a correct collaboration with economic entities. (LS)
