National Liberal Party (PNL) interim chairperson Ilie Bolojan announced on Monday that the Liberals will support a package of measures aimed more at state spending cuts than revenue increases, possibly through taxes and duties.
„We know what our possibilities are, but I think that any rational person understands that things cannot continue the way they have been going so far. It’s easy to make statements, to draw targets or things that you pursue, but the contact with reality I think is quite hard and, from this point of view, we will support a package of measures in which expenditure cuts should be significantly higher than revenue increases (…), possibly through taxes and duties. It would be good if the increase in revenues were to be achieved through better collections, and from this point of view there is room for a much better activity at ANAF [the National Agency for Fiscal Administration], the Anti-Fraud Office, and the fight against tax evasion must really become a priority, not only in a declarative manner, but it should be seen, practically, through increased collections, and given that we are doing rather badly on the VAT side, that means additional money can be collected. (…) This package is very unlikely to avoid increasing taxes, because we are under great pressure, both due to the commitments that Romania has made through the fiscal plan, so we have to reduce this deficit, but also due to the absorption of European funds,” said Bolojan after the PNL BPN meeting.
He said that the Liberals support the reduction of state spending through „staff cuts where it is found that the number of posts is not justified, the elimination of overblown structures in boards of directors, in structures paid too much compared to the contribution that those who are part of these structures bring to state companies, restructuring of state companies, eliminating all overlapping, decentralization and transfer of powers to local authorities, unifications, mergers between agencies.”
Bolojan emphasized that it is highly unlikely that this package of measures will avoid tax increases, giving as an example the underfunding of the budget of the National Health Insurance House.
„This is a chronic problem and expanding the contributor base – for example, those who have very high pensions do not contribute to the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund – I think it can be taken into account in such a way that the National Health Insurance Fund has the money needed for hospitals in Romania to be able to provide decent medical services for our citizens,” said the interim leader of the PNL, adding that reform is needed in healthcare.
Ilie Bolojan went on to stress the need to access European funds.As for a new increase in pensions in 2026, the PNL president said that it is difficult to come up with promises that have no coverage.
„We have some very large gaps between revenues and expenditures and, by the end of this year, we need to reduce this gap in such a way that, even if we cannot reach the 7% deficit target, we still have to get close to this target. And, for example, a reduction of 1.5% of GDP can mean about 30 billion RON by the end of the year. Now, knowing that you have to take a package of measures that will reduce this expenditure or increase your revenues, it is totally risky to come up with promises or expectations that cannot be honored for 2026,” Bolojan said.
He doesn’t think that, at the moment, there can be any question of increases or indexation.
„We need to see how to protect those who today are on the payroll and how to ensure their payment, because there are some rights won by those who have worked in Romania,” Bolojan said.
