President Nicusor Dan said on Thursday that it would have been preferable for the 2026 budget to have been adopted before 1 January.

'It would have been ideally and, including at that time as well, May-June last year, I said that, precisely in order to send a message to the financial markets, that it would be good for the budgets, namely the revision for 2025 and the budget for 2026, to be announced as early as those months, September-October, so that Romania has a predictable trajectory. That was my opinion. I appointed a Government supported in Parliament by four parties and by minorities. Beyond taking part in certain discussions, the responsibility lies elsewhere. It would have been good to have the budget before 1 January, of course,' the head of state told a news conference held after the informal meeting of European Council leaders, which took place at the Alden-Biesen Castle in Belgium.

However, he mentioned that, at this point, work is under way on the draft budget for 2026 and that the Finance Minister has already met all representative institutions.

'They discussed an overall allocation for each institution and technical discussions will begin next week. How long will they last? I hope two to three weeks and we will have a budget,' the head of state said.

According to President Dan, reducing the budget deficit from 9.5 percent to 7.6 percent represented a 'very good' message for investors.

'The best message, which came at a cost for Romanians, of course, the best message for investors is that instead of 9.5 we had a 7.6 deficit, so if we look only at this aspect and not at the reduction in purchasing power, that is a very good message,' Nicusor Dan added. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Irinela Visan; EN - writing by: Rodica State)