Government emergency ordinance on state budget revision published in Official Journal

The government's emergency ordinance on the revision of the 2018 state budget, and the complementary emergency ordinance on the revision of the 2018 social security budget were published on Friday in the Official Journal.

The government adopted the budget revision at its meeting on September 5. Minister of Finance Eugen Teodorovici said on that occasion that the same economic growth of 5.55 percent had been used for calculations as the one the 2018 State Budget Law was built upon.

"Another principle pursued was that of making available with priority the funds for the necessary and mandatory spending with salaries, pensions, social assistance benefits, expenditures related to the country's international obligations and other such expenditures. It should be noted that a considerable chunk of the amounts that need to be made available through the budget revision arise from the enforcement of legislative measures adopted in 2018, after the approval of this year's state budget. The third highly important principle is to not affect ongoing projects, feasible investment projects, and provide the necessary money for the works that can be completed by the end of this year," the Finance Minister said.

According to Teodorovici, revenues to the general consolidated budget increase by 8.8 billion lei and expenditures go up by 9.9 billion lei.

"The budgets for the structures that are part of the Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT) were kept the same, we kept the figures you already know from two days ago, so we made a negative revision for these entities, but please note that there is no impediment for their individual engagements to be successfully completed by the end of this year, we will deal with whatever expenditure they might need by the end of the year, but the 7-month budget execution clearly showed there had been funds left unspent, and a correct and modern management clearly stipulates that there is no reason to keep the money in an area where it is left unused, one simply re-allocates the money," Teodorovici argued.

The FinMin also stated that even without the approval of the CSAT, the revision was done under perfectly legal conditions, stressing that the government has done its duty to seek the approval of the Council, but that the suspension of the relevant CSAT meeting had not been done according to the legal procedures.

The Supreme Council for National Defence gathered on Tuesday to examine the proposals for the revision of the 2018 budget of the institutions with responsibilities in the field of national security, but President Klaus Iohannis announced subsequently that the meeting had been suspended and the government should come up with a new budget blueprint explaining the cuts for national security whilst operating a massive positive budget revision. Iohannis emphasized that the CSAT approval is not optional.

The Presidential Administration said in a release that President Klaus Iohannis firmly condemns the adoption of the budget revision blueprint without the approval of the CSAT and publicly demands the Ombudsman to notify the Constitutional Court that should look whether the emergency ordinance on the state budget revision meets the constitutional requirements for approval.