Bolojan: The system cannot be changed quickly, nor can sinecures be eliminated overnight

Appearing on Europa FM’s “Romania Live” program, Ilie Bolojan explained that the order of the fiscal measures the government took to reduce the deficit was not ideal, but rather dictated by the economic situation and pressure from European institutions.

“You don’t do things in the order you’d like, but in the order dictated by reality. When this government took office, there was immense pressure on Romania because it had failed to meet its commitments to correct the deficit,” the prime minister said.

He explained that Romania risked sanctions if it did not adopt measures quickly: “We had to present a package of measures by mid-July, otherwise there was a risk of European funds being suspended.”

The prime minister admitted that, normally, he would have started by cutting spending: “It seems like normal logic to me—first you cut spending, you stop the losses, and only then, if you can’t balance the budget, when you’re spending more than you can afford, do you turn to tax hikes.”

When asked if he would eliminate sinecures now that the government has more control, Bolojan claimed that he had blocked such situations whenever he could. “Every day I was in office and had the opportunity to block sinecures, I did so,” he stated.

The prime minister, however, avoided giving specific examples of dismissals and insisted that real change does not come through individual decisions: “You can replace one person or another, but you have to change the systems. And systems aren’t that easy to change.”

The PSD ministers resigned on Thursday, and the government is now led by the PNL, USR, and UDMR. In addition to the role of prime minister, Ilie Bolojan will also take over the Energy portfolio.

Ilie Bolojan also said that reform should start with transparency and clear rules regarding the spending of public funds. “To change a system, you must ensure transparency, because people see where the problems lie. Then you must establish rules,” the prime minister stated.

He cited as an example the restriction of access to funds for underperforming administrations: “We no longer allow all underperforming administrations to access the government’s coffers. We’ve brought order to this situation, but the savings aren’t visible overnight; they become apparent over time.”