Romania is halfway through its fiscal consolidation process and the remaining half will be much more difficult, as public tolerance for further measures to reduce the budget deficit is declining, as such, what lies ahead will be harder than what has been achieved so far, Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare said on Wednesday during a plenary session of the Senate.

He attended the debate on the simple motion entitled 'The State Budget at the Hour of Truth; The Same Minister, Two Sets of Accounts: One for Romanians, Another for Brussels,' submitted against him by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).

'The title of this motion makes a serious accusation, as it concerns an aspect that a Finance Minister has a duty to defend above all others: trust in the state's figures. This time, I will respond with examples and data to confirm that the version presented by the Romanian Government is the correct one. What the motion describes as two methodologies are, in fact, the methodologies provided for by law and used by every European Union member state. The first is the national cash-based methodology, which records money when it actually enters or leaves the Treasury. This is the basis on which we publish budget execution figures, because the state pays salaries, pensions and bills with money it has in its accounts. The second is the ESA 2010 methodology, established by EU Regulation 549/2013, which records revenue and expenditure when the obligation arises, regardless of when payment is made. It is the basis for assessing the excessive deficit procedure and comparing member states. Every country has its own national budget execution figures alongside its European reporting, and the differences between the two are well known and explained,' the minister said.

Alexandru Nazare stressed that Romania's deficit had declined regardless of the methodology used to calculate it, adding that there was no 'one figure for Romanians and another for Brussels.'

According to the minister, in 2025 the cash deficit stood at 7.65% of GDP, while the ESA deficit, confirmed by Eurostat last month, was 7.8%, 'a difference of less than two-tenths of a percentage point.'

Nazare pointed out that although rating agencies kept Romania in the investment-grade category this summer, as their forecasts for the 2026 deficit ranged between 5.8% and 6.2% of GDP, broadly in line with the target undertaken, they maintained a negative outlook. This means that their confidence depends on what Romania does in the coming months.

The minister explained that the ESA figure is not calculated by the Finance Minister but by the National Institute of Statistics, together with the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank of Romania and the National Commission for Strategy and Forecasting.

Furthermore, the data were made public in a press release issued by the Ministry of Finance on 22 April, when Eurostat validated Romania's 2025 ESA deficit at 7.9% of GDP.

Alexandru Nazare also provided clarifications regarding the difference of 28 billion lei, which had been attributed entirely to unpaid invoices.

The Finance Minister added that Romania was only halfway through its fiscal consolidation process, with just a few weeks remaining until the end of the year and the population increasingly unable to bear further adjustment measures.

On Wednesday, the Senate debated the simple motion submitted by AUR against Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare, entitled 'The State Budget at the Hour of Truth: The Same Minister, Two Sets of Accounts: One for Romanians, Another for Brussels.' AUR accused the minister of selectively presenting the state of public finance and called for regular publication of budget deficit estimates calculated according to the European ESA methodology, alongside cash deficit figures.

The simple motion against Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare was rejected by the Senate plenary session on Wednesday. The vote was 21 in favour, 46 against and 13 abstentions. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Tilica; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)