The PNL Minister of Finance has been throwing criticism at the Government over the pension bill that the Chamber of Deputies just passed. This would add quite a bit of spending over the medium term (0.6% of GDP 2023, 1.6-1.8% thereafter) so will bring the deficit to an insane 5.9% in 2024 and ~6.8% in 2025, and that's after the recent tax hikes and the fact that revenues this year have massively disappointed (6.3% deficit 2023.)
The EU has Romania in the Excessive Deficit Procedure (deficit must remain < 3.0%) so the scale of this deterioration is quite bad, given there's no way we get the coalition raising taxes ahead of the elections, so that 2024 number is baked in and the 2025 figure is the problem of the next Government (I don't even think PSD/PNL holds)
The pension bill is evidently an electoral handout, designed in order to goad retirees into supporting Ciolacu's presidential candidacy. Quite a lot of PNLers were vehemently opposed to the proposal, but after a day of circus, when Ciolacu allegedly locked himself in his office and refused to leave before the Finance Minister gave his stamp of approval, Iohannis and his underlings forced other members to vote in favor. Even so, Bolos, the PNL Finance Minister, has frequently contradicted Ciolacu in public and it is likely his days in office are numbered.
You're kidding, right? That's just, wow.
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