Scenes worthy of Caragiale in Parliament during the vote in the committees

The debates on the 2026 state budget degenerated on Wednesday in the joint budget-finance committees, where a PSD amendment regarding social assistance for pensioners and vulnerable families caused both a procedural conflict and a new round of tensions in the coalition. The budget draft enters the joint plenary of Parliament on Wednesday, at 4:00 p.m., and the final vote is scheduled for Thursday.

The scandal erupted after the vote on the social-democratic amendment. According to the data presented in the committee, 51 parliamentarians were present: 23 voted „for”, 19 „against”, one abstained, and eight AUR parliamentarians, although present, did not vote. This is where the dispute began: the liberals invoked the majority rule of half plus one of those present, which would have meant that the amendment did not meet the required number of votes, while the PSD contested the interpretation and requested a resumption of the vote. The meeting was suspended for clarification.

In parallel, the meeting was also marked by a harsh exchange of remarks between the Minister of Labor, Florin Manole, and the PNL deputy Robert Sighiartău, amid the broader dispute about the PSD’s social package. The stakes are high: one of the amendments provides for the allocation of 1.1 billion lei to support low-income families, families with disabled children and for financial aid to approximately 2.8 million pensioners. The Minister of Labor previously claimed that the package also targets the over 300,000 children from single-parent families, with very low incomes or with disabilities.

The government and the PNL, however, dispute the financial sustainability of the measure. Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare said that the Ministry of Labor has already received approximately 2.5 billion lei above the initial limit and that 1.7 billion lei for these payments would have already been covered, while the additional amount requested by the PSD would push spending into deficit. On the other hand, Florin Manole claimed that the source of financing is clearly indicated in the budget, under the general actions chapter of the Ministry of Finance.

The tension in the committee comes after two days of political confrontations on the budget. PSD has submitted three amendments that increase spending by about 3.4 billion lei, despite Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s request not to add new pressures to the 2026 budget. At the same time, the leader of the AUR senators, Petrişor Peiu, announced that the party will not participate in either the committees or the plenary session in the vote on the single aid for low-income pensioners, although at other times AUR has supported PSD amendments in budget debates.

The atmosphere became even more inflamed after Tuesday’s incidents in the committees, when PNL demanded the sanctioning of PSD deputy Adrian Câciu, accusing him of aggressive behavior towards Gabriela Horga, the chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee. In this context, the vote in the reunited plenary session risks becoming not only a confrontation over budget figures, but also a new test for the fragile parliamentary majority that supports the Bolojan Government.