PSD says its demands, including pension indexing, removing CASS for mothers and veterans, and a 25% cut in business bureaucracy, are all in the programme filed on 15 October.
The programme bars selling profitable strategic assets under budget pressure but allows listing minority stakes, as with listed energy companies, with no named companies or timetable.
Bill PL-x nr. 376/2026 bars the state from transferring shares until 31 December 2027, with exemptions for loss-making or insolvent firms; President Nicușor Dan referred it to the CCR, which has not ruled.
In April 2026 PSD asked the Bolojan government to withdraw sale plans for stakes in Hidroelectrica, Romgaz and CEC Bank, valued well below their potential, according to the party.
On Friday, 16 October, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) said every demand it made to PM-designate Luca Niculescu appears in the 2026-2028 government programme that Niculescu filed in Parliament on Thursday, 15 October. The party's list includes indexing pensions, scrapping the health contribution (CASS) for mothers and veterans, an urgent budget rectification to fund hospitals and essential services, and paying state invoices to companies within 90 days. It also names a 25% cut to business bureaucracy, full application of PSD's economic stimulus plan, and voluntary mergers of small localities alongside shared administrative services. Niculescu filed the ministers list with the programme, with 11 posts for PSD and 6 for technocrats.
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PSD says it opposes selling profitable state companies or firms in strategic sectors such as energy, defence and banking, and that the programme is consistent with this. The programme itself states that profitable strategic assets will not be sold under budget pressure or without a fair valuation. It does, however, leave open listing minority stakes on the model of energy companies already on the stock exchange. The document does not name which companies could be affected, what share would be offered, or any timetable. PSD's statement adds that it has never opposed bringing investors into state companies in difficulty.
“PSD has opposed and will continue to oppose the sale of these profitable companies or companies in strategic sectors for the national economy, such as energy, defence or banking.”
PSD also points to a bill it initiated, registered as PL-x nr. 376/2026, which bars the state from transferring shares until 31 December 2027. Under the bill, companies that have posted losses for five consecutive years, or that are insolvent under a final court ruling, are exempt. PSD argues that the companies the programme mentions for investor participation fall within that exemption logic. President Nicușor Dan challenged the law at the Constitutional Court (CCR), which has not yet decided on the referral.
In April 2026 PSD asked the Bolojan government to withdraw plans to sell share packages in profitable companies, naming Hidroelectrica, Romgaz and CEC Bank, which it said were valued far below their real potential. The party's censure motion, filed together with AUR, accused Ilie Bolojan and liberal ministers of wanting to privatise state companies, and its title described a plan to sell the state's wealth fraudulently. That motion led to the removal of the Bolojan government, which PSD initiated. The party also criticised then deputy prime minister Oana Gheorghiu over the sale plans.
PSD says the BET index of the Bucharest Stock Exchange rose and government bond yields fell to their lowest level in a month, which it reads as investors reacting to the party's decision to join the government. It attributes the recession, falling industrial output and about 70,000 lost jobs to the austerity policy of the Bolojan government. Niculescu, appointed by President Nicușor Dan, still needs a parliamentary majority to back the programme and his cabinet.
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PSD says the programme filed by PM-designate Luca Niculescu includes every one of its demands. The document keeps open minority stock listings in state companies, which PSD argues does not contradict its opposition to selling them.
AI text based on reports by Ziare.com, Digi24, Libertatea and other publishers. Published .