Bucharest Mayor Ciprian Ciucu said on Monday that insolvency is the only remaining legal mechanism for the financial and operational restructuring of the Bucharest Transport Company (STB), which he described as being in an almost disastrous financial condition. In 2025, the company's debt exceeded RON 1.7 billion, of which nearly RON 1.5 billion was owed to the National Tax Administration Agency - ANAF.

He cited three main causes for this state of affairs: 'The first cause is the non-payment of employees' contributions to ANAF - over RON 1 billion, which began generating penalties. The second cause is imposture, politicisation and the failure of the Bucharest Public Transport Inter-community Development Association (ADI TPBI) to fulfil the function it was created for. (...) The third cause is defective management, mainly due to politicisation, not oriented toward efficiency at STB, and I also added fear of the unions when it comes to taking the correct measures for STB.'

Ciucu warned that STB's insolvency should have been declared years ago. 'From my point of view, STB has been in undeclared insolvency since 2020, from the moment it stopped paying the employees' contributions to ANAF. Since then, it has dragged along debts and penalties of more than RON 1 billion, year after year,' he wrote on Monday on Facebook.

According to the mayor, STB's financial reality indicates 'an undeclared bankruptcy'. He said the company's total debt reached RON 1.72 billion in 2025, including RON 1.49 billion owed to ANAF, stemming from a 2019 - 2020 management decision not to remit VAT and salary contributions (income tax, CAS, CASS). Of that amount, RON 402 million are penalties. Ciucu argued the company was 'the victim of irresponsible decisions from the past'.

He also criticised ADI TPBI, now acting as the supervisory public authority, saying it effectively determines 'where the wheel turns'. He claimed STB's audit reports were 'clearly manipulated', including costs unrelated to transport operations and contracts 'without economic logic'.

In Mayor Ciucu's view, Bucharest's public transport service is fiscally unsustainable. He urged STB's Board, management and General Council representatives to act immediately, arguing that insolvency would place the company under a judicial administrator supervised by a syndic judge, preventing further penalties, account seizures and service blockages. He said insolvency is 'the only instrument through which STB can escape full payment of arrears'.

Ciucu also warned that STB's financial burden threatens the entire city's budgetary stability, and that the combined cost of public transport and accumulated debt 'equates to the budget of a capital city', so that STB could 'drag down the entire city', leading to the Municipality's own insolvency.

The capital's mayor called on the STB general director and Board to meet urgently and request the company's insolvency, stating that only this measure can protect salaries and avoid 'the bankruptcy of the city'. He also said that he would ask political representatives in the General Council to support the move. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Iulia Carciog; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)