Acting Minister of Finance, Tanczos Barna, stated on Wednesday that European funds would not be suspended for Romania.

He was asked, at Victoria Palace, about the European Commission’s warning that Romania has not taken effective measures to correct the excessive deficit.

„It is a final message that we must take seriously, we have teams working on the package of measures, it will be ready in a few days”, declared Tanczos Barna before the Government meeting.

According to him, a first form of the package of measures envisaged to reduce the budget deficit would be presented next Monday.

„We are discussing the entire package and we will see in a few days what the team’s proposal is”, the minister said.

Asked if there was still a risk of suspension of European funds for Romania, he replied: „I told you on Monday that we would not reach such a situation, European funds will not be suspended for Romania. (…) I told you that European funds will not be suspended, period. Have European funds ever been suspended? No, not this time either”, Tanczos Barna argued.

He explained that the measures to reduce the budget deficit will be adopted in „due time”, adding that their application will be decided in the coalition.

Romania’s net expenditure growth is well above the ceiling set by its corrective path, presenting clear risks for the correction of its excessive deficit by 2030 and, consequently, the European Commission recommends that the Council adopt a decision stating that Romania has not taken effective measures to correct the imbalance.

The Commission concluded that Romania is experiencing excessive macroeconomic imbalances. Vulnerabilities have increased as Romania’s fiscal and current account deficits worsened and cost competitiveness deteriorated in 2024. The high public deficit increased in 2024. The continued increase in the public deficit, in particular increases in public sector salaries and pensions, has increased private consumption and the already large current account deficit, reads the EU Commission’s analysis published on Wednesday.

AGERPRES