Romania’s government to defer passing budget bill by February 8

Romania’s Government might defer passing the 2019 budget planning bill by Friday, February 8, according to sources quoted by local Mediafax. Finance minister Eugen Teodorovici initially announced the Govt. would send the draft to the Parliament on February 6. However, Teodorovici had last-minute talks with prime minister Viorica Dancila and the ruling coalition’s leader Liviu Dragnea on Monday evening, ahead of the coalition’s joint meeting, to discuss about the schedule for adopting the budget. Dragnea has been reportedly approaching MPs directly to assure support for the budget bill, Jurnalul Bucurestiului informed. The main issue remains the revenues and expenses that the local authorities will have to take over this year. Mayors in Romania's biggest cities are unhappy with the Government's plan to give them more expenses to cover, besides higher revenues. The head of the junior ruling coalition party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, hinted that the central government is right when asking large municipalities to share the budget burden, but avoided taking a firm position. “Each of them is right, in his way,” Tariceanu stated. In the meantime, the senior ruling party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has been fighting with the political vehicle of former PSD prime minister Victor Ponta over some MPs who migrated from one party to another. After several MPs including former PM Mihai Tudose moved from PSD to Ponta’s Pro Romania last week, Ziare.com announced that three (low profile) MPs returned to PSD in January after making official their move to Pro Romania in December. Dragnea discussing directly with the MPs and the sudden return of MPs to the senior ruling party indicates that there are real concerns regarding the majority the Government still enjoys in Parliament, particularly if some of the lawmakers opt to support dissident PSD leaders who rely on strong local organizations (such as Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea). Bucharest District 3 mayor Robert Negoita, one of Firea's closest allies, urged MPs to consult with the mayors in their electoral precincts before endorsing or not the 2019 budget. Romania’s ruling party leader wants to redirect money from intelligence services’ funds to healthcare programs editor@romania-insider.com