The four-party ruling coalition in Romania failed to reach a final agreement on the 2026 budget on March 4, as initially announced, but Finance minister Alexandru Nazare remains confident that the Government will pass the budget planning law for this year next week.

Romania's executive pledged to bring the cash deficit down to 6.2% this year, from 7.65% of GDP in 2025.

The issue still under debate is a social aid package that the Social Democrats (PSD) want to be some 0.1% of GDP larger than in the draft handed by the Ministry of Finance. The Finance Ministry reportedly accepted PSD’s request to allocate more money for investments carried out at local levels, by city, town, and village halls, under the “Anghel Saligny” scheme, financed from the national budget. But it remains unclear whether PSD agreed with the Anghel Saligny budget proposed by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.

"We hope that next week we will approve the 2026 budget of the Government. It took some time, and it was somehow predictable that this budget would take longer, because we have a significant consolidation of 1.4% of GDP,” said minister Nazare, attending the PwC CEO Survey 2026 Conference, according to Ziarul Financiar.

Summoned by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan at the Government’s headquarters to settle the budget issue, the leaders of the ruling parties left after three hours of discussions, without reaching a final agreement, according to ProTV.

Finance minister Alexandru Nazare presented them with a draft budget for this year.

According to the document, the Ministry of Defence would receive over RON 44 billion, RON 6 billion more than in 2025. Funds would also increase for Energy, Economy, and Interior.

Ministries such as Labour and Education receive the largest allocations, although smaller than last year. Health will also be in the red by RON 1.5 billion. The projection also shows that the High Court (ICCJ) could have a double budget, to be exact, RON 7.5 billion – partly to cover the backward adjustment of the wages of judges and prosecutors (approximately RON 10 billion or EUR 2 billion, equivalent to 0.5% of GDP).

“The compensation is inherited from the previous government and amounts to over RON 10 billion, money that must be paid in instalments spread over five, even seven years."

(Photo: Dreamstime)

iulian@romania-insider.com