Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Friday that he had stirred up the hornets' nest quite a lot during his term by curbing abuses of the state budget and cutting back privileges.

'During this term, I've caused quite a disturbance. Think about how we limited the plundering of the state budget, we limited privileges - and that annoyed many people,' Bolojan said in an interview with Radio Romania Actualitati. 'Plundering the state budget can be done in many ways. If a bank gives out non-performing loans, that money is gone. When a bank like EximBank granted loans that will never be repaid - and no other credit was given during this term - it means you've limited the plundering of public funds.'

He also criticised the way access to Romania's energy grid is managed, noting that although the country consumes a maximum of 9,000 MW, authorities have issued permits totalling 80,000 MW. As a result, he said, the system is effectively blocked.

'One cannot connect to our electricity system today because we've issued papers for almost ten times the capacity we need. We consume a maximum of 9,000 MW, but we've issued documents for 80,000 MW, which practically blocks access,' he said.

Bolojan argued that more producers would mean more competition and lower prices, while blocking access reduces the number of suppliers and risks pushing prices up. 'In the last two years alone, we've issued permits for over 40,000 MW, and that can only happen if these mechanisms were opened or supported. When you have state-owned companies whose managements enjoy gravy-train contracts without major responsibilities, and you shine a light on them, it's quite disturbing,' he said.

Bolojan added that he had tried to 'shed light' on situations where public money was being wasted, including in companies whose leadership was politically appointed.

'At the Romanian Waters we lost NRRP funding for dams, and we also had the Praid incident. The manager at Romanian Waters was dismissed; the one at Salrom, who also bears responsibility, clung to his position and is still doing well there. What did I do? Even with the handbrake on at times, I put the spotlight on these areas, sought to change legislation and correct things. These areas are connected trans-politically and trans-institutionally to people who supported such activities,' he said.

Bolojan emphasized the need for better governance of state-owned companies, saying that any enterprise with 'enormous losses' that are not addressed amounts to 'indirect plundering' public money.

Regarding railway freight operator CFR Marfa, he said the company will be taken over by another entity. 'The losses at CFR Marfa - some from the state budget, some arrears, some subsidies - are huge. Loss-making companies are subsidised. Think that losses at the Oltenia Energy Complex alone were 200 million euros last year. When a company cannot be saved but its field is strategic, the solution - not only in Romania - is insolvency or controlled bankruptcy, and another company takes its place. But if we don't improve things, if we don't correct past mistakes, we've achieved nothing,' the head of the Executive said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Irinela Visan; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)