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Accusations targeted at PSD

During the press conference, Bolojan blamed the Social Democratic Party (PSD), PNL’s former coalition partners, for sabotaging agreed-upon reforms.

“Public administration reform was postponed for months, until February this year. (...) If they had not blocked a large part of the reforms, Romania would now be in a much better situation, but the reforms affected powerful interests,” Bolojan stressed.

He said he had launched a war against waste, sinecures, and institutions that consume resources. At the same time, he said he respects public officials who serve the state.

According to Ilie Bolojan, “the reform of magistrates’ pensions was unprecedented, something no one had dared to take responsibility for.”

He also recalled the judgments that had become enforceable following lawsuits brought by magistrates in Romania.

“As you know, we have a judgment obliging the government to pay more than RON 5 billion, and there are also other judgments obtained following the thousands of lawsuits brought over all these years. Without legislation that prevents this type of lawsuit, which is what the adoption of the unified pay law in the Senate would achieve, we will not solve this problem and, regardless of what the next government does, it will effectively be impossible to pay such sums overnight,” he said.

Energy cost

Among the issues tackled by the government, Ilie Bolojan said, were those in the energy sector.

“We inherited [the costs of] electricity compensation schemes dating back to 2021, which still involve bills that have not been checked by ANRE and which will continue to come in the following years. This year, we allocated RON 3.7 billion to pay these outstanding amounts and have paid approximately RON 1.5 billion. If all checks are completed satisfactorily, the remaining amounts will also be paid by the end of the year,” the interim prime minister said.

Costs accrued as part of these schemes will continue to weigh heavily on the state budget, he warned.

Healthcare issues

Bolojan stressed that another category of structural problems concerned the healthcare sector.

“6.5 million Romanians paid health contributions while 16.5 million benefited from services. This system could not function. Following the measures adopted, 10.5 million Romanians are now contributing, and for the first time, this year the system is approaching a certain balance. However, without measures to incorporate the impact of healthcare salary costs, which lead to poor management in a large proportion of hospitals, into the cost of services provided by hospitals to patients, nothing has been done, and healthcare problems will persist in the coming years,” he said.

Public investments

According to Bolojan, there is also a major structural problem with investment management.

“One of the mistakes made over all these years was overcontracting investments. We still have substantial overcontracting under the Transport Sectoral Program, exceeding 300%. The same situation exists under the program expanding water and sewerage networks. If proper management is not implemented to prioritize investments and retain viable projects across the country, problems will arise regarding payments in the construction sector, the pace of works, and rising costs that the state budget will have to bear,” he said.

To make his case, Bolojan pointed to the Transport Ministry, which had been run by the Social Democratic ministers until the dismissal of the government. The institution racked up contracts worth more than EUR 30 billion, while the average annual budget is approximately EUR 6 billion, according to the outgoing PM.

“This means we have at least five years of work ahead. Therefore, every project that is launched must be carefully planned to ensure that funding can be secured; otherwise, things will not work out,” Bolojan said.

Bolojan also said that, regarding payments to local authorities, the outstanding invoices under the Anghel Saligny program, amounting to RON 2.4 billion, could be paid without difficulty because a budget adjustment was needed.

“Furthermore, by releasing the 10% holdback imposed at the beginning of each year through the budget adjustment, all construction invoices due for payment can be settled without difficulty, including those issued by the end of the year,” Ilie Bolojan explained.

State-owned companies

The prime minister said that the final structural problem that Romania faced concerned the management of state-owned companies.

“At the end of every year, companies that have not undergone any reforms for years and need restructuring and intervention always ask for additional subsidy funds in November and December because they fail to prepare their budgets properly. CFR, Metrorex, and so on. Without proper management of state-owned companies, without changing performance indicators and introducing new management contracts, we will not be able to ensure that important state assets are managed better in the interests of citizens,” Ilie Bolojan said.

He added that he had begun addressing these imbalances, which had accumulated over previous years, and had managed to correct them partially, whereas previous governments had avoided these problems instead of solving them.

“Since taking office, my only concern has been Romania. I do not claim to have been without fault, nor that some things could not have been done better. Perhaps some things escaped our attention, but I leave with the feeling that I have done my duty to our country. If the next government ignores the recent lessons and returns to old, unhealthy habits, it will only be a matter of time before Romania goes off the rails again,” Ilie Bolojan said in his statement delivered at Victoria Palace.

Romanian leaders discuss rule of law with Venice Commission delegation