Measures to curb Romania’s budget deficit

The European Union is worried about Romania’s budget deficit and presently assessing the measures taken by the Bucharest government aimed at curbing it

Sorin Iordan, 29.10.2025, 14:00

The European Commissioner for economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, paid a two day formal visit to Bucharest. The Community Executive has sent its representative to check whether Romania, the EU country with the highest budget deficit of 9.3% in 2024 is implementing reforms aimed at regaining the fiscal balance.

The European Union is worried by the budget deficit registered by Romania and is waiting to see how Romania is going back to a sustainable track, Dombrovskis said during his meeting with the country’s Prime Minister, Ilie Bolojan.

Brussels is assessing the measures implemented by the Romanian government to curb the budget deficit, by the end of November, and if the assessment isn’t a positive one, Romania runs the risk of having some European funds suspended. In this context, the commissioner has urged the Executive in Bucharest to take bold measures and reduce the country’s vulnerabilities.

Valdis Dombrovskis:  “The scale and nature of the measures taken were fully in line and appropriate to bring Romania back on sustainable track. But with the budget deficit this year still expected to be around 8.3% of GDP, it is important to stay the course so the budget deficit criteria or target for the next year has to be met to maintain this financial stability, which has now been achieved and eventually to correct excessive deficit by 2030 as planned.”

In turn, the head of the Romanian government said the budget deficit target for the next year must come close to 6% and told the European official that the measures that had already been implemented and those to be implemented by the end of the year, jointly with the right financial discipline can lead to regaining the credibility both from the financial markets and the European Commission.

Ilie Bolojan: “I assured Commissioner Dombrovskis that we remain engaged in continuing to implement the measures aimed at ensuring us a process of sustainable economic recovery. We have proposed for this year a target deficit of 8.4%, and in the following two months, with the right budget control and financial discipline, we can meet this target.  We propose to take measures in November to curb expenses and cash in incomes to prioritize and space out investment from the national budgets so that we may find a proper balance.”

Bolojan went on to say that in December, they would get ready a law on the 2026 budget, which includes the deficit target and the main elements to produce stabilizing effects next year. A similar signal of stability was conveyed by the Romanian president, Nicuşor Dan. According to him, Romania is firmly committed to carrying on the process of fiscal consolidation and correcting economic imbalances. He added the Romanian authorities would continue the efforts of reducing the excessive deficit and would be implementing by August 2026 the recently revised form of the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience, known as the PNRR.

(bill)