Ruling Coalition Leaders And Government Officials Meet To Discuss 2019 Budget

The meeting will take place around noon on Tuesday, and will follow a previous round of discussions which took place on Monday evening, at Dragnea’s Lower Chamber bureau.

Talks on Monday took approximately five hours and were also attended by Labor Minister Mariu Budai and ALDE secretary-general Daniel Chitoiu. No statements were made following the meeting.

Political sources told MEDIAFAX on Monday that the Government could delay adopting the state budget yet again, despite the fact that PM Viorica Dancila announced that the cabinet would make every effort to pass the project during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.

According to the sources, the executive could schedule a meeting on Friday to pass the act, which has been frequently delayed since early December.

Dancila and Teodorovici presented the budget project at a Social Democrat Party (PSD) top-brass meeting on Sunday.

The project was criticized by municipality mayors for a new spending split, which sees local administrations take on some of the Government’s expenses, especially for social services.

Opposition parties also announced that they will challenge the act at the Constitutional Court if it is passed in its current form, decrying the use of overly-optimistic economic predictions to calculate the state’s income for the year.

The project might further be delayed as PSD Chairman Liviu Dragnea said that he intends to propose the transfer of an “important sum” from the budget allotted for secret services towards health spending. If this ammendment is added, the budget would require a new review from the Romania’s Supreme Defense Council.