Discussions on the 2026 budget have been marked by tensions and scandals between MPs and coalition members. Debates continue on Friday, March 20, when the final vote will be cast. After PSD deputy Adrian Câciu raised his voice at a PNL senator during the budget and finance committee meeting, USR submitted an official complaint to the leadership of the Chamber of Deputies.
The event took place on Tuesday, March 17, during the debates on the draft state budget for 2026 in the budget, finance and banks committee.
PNL Senator Gabriela Horga asked the Minister of Transport, Ciprian Șerban, about the debts of subordinated companies, in the context in which the PSD claims that social measures could be financed from the recovery of these arrears.
In response, Adrian Câciu stated that the responsibility for recovering these arrears belongs to ANAF.
“I remind everyone that the head of ANAF has been from PNL for 6 years. The arrears are recovered by ANAF. Those who accuse that they cannot recover the arrears can transfer the agency to their colleagues from USR”. said the PSD deputy.
Gabriela Horga replied that the social democrats’ argument regarding the financing of social measures from these amounts is not realistic.
“You say you’re funding a social welfare package out of something like this, and again you’re lying. You’re lying, as you’ve done countless times when you’ve talked about the budget,” said the PNL deputy.
The discussion was later amplified, after Adrian Câciu claimed that he should not have received the right of reply at that time.
“I know that there is no dialogue between the members of the commission. You had no right of reply,” he said.
“Of course, you’re also giving me lessons now…”, Horga replied.
“Yes, I give you lessons!”, replied Căciu.
The chairman of the meeting then asked him to stop the attacks on his colleagues and allow the discussions to continue.
“Stop giving lessons, you’re just offending your colleagues. Let’s move on to questions,” said Gabriela Horga.
The tense moment culminated when Adrian Câciu hit the table with his fist and demanded an answer to his question.
“I asked a question. I want an answer! I want an answer!”, shouted the PSD deputy.
Gabriela Horga asked him to control his reactions and respect the framework of the debate.
“Please control yourself! This is the second time you’ve lost control and made your party a laughing stock.” he stated this.
Adrian Câciu apologized for the exit
Later, the deputy apologized on Tuesday evening for his behavior towards the PNL senator.
“I will take this moment to apologize to my colleague, Mrs. Gabriela Horga, for going out earlier during the day. I want to tell you that I regret it and it is not what characterizes me.
It was a slip-up following those accusations that we are liars and irresponsible. But even so, I shouldn’t have this attitude.” declared Câciu in the committee meeting.
USR notifies the leadership of the Chamber of Deputies
On Friday, the USR parliamentary group submitted an official notification to the leadership of the Chamber of Deputies regarding the behavior and language of the PSD deputy, both for the incident during the meeting of the Committee for Foreign Policy on March 11, and for this week’s.
“At the meeting of the Committee for Foreign Policy on March 11, deputy Adrian Câciu made discriminatory and offensive remarks towards the chairman of the committee, Hajdu Gábor, as well as offensive personal attacks towards other participants.
The PSD deputy made statements of a xenophobic nature and disparaging remarks regarding the physical appearance, which exceed the limits of political discourse”says USR, on Friday, in a press release.
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USR claims that Adrian Câciu violates the parliamentary rules regarding language and conduct, demanding that he be sanctioned by reporting it to the Legal Commission.
The party’s representatives also condemn the lapses considered discriminatory, and deputy Iulian Lorincz, vice-president of the Commission for Romanian communities outside the country’s borders and member of the Foreign Policy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, also filed a complaint with the CNCD, accusing Câciu of unacceptable behavior.
“In the Foreign Policy Commission, I witnessed moments that have no place in a Parliament from a European country. Personal insults. Insults. And clear xenophobic messages. “You don’t understand what it means to be Romanian. You shouldn’t even be allowed to speak on that microphone». This is what PSD MP Adrian Câciu told a colleague from UDMR. For the extremist Câciu, the right to speak depends on ethnicity or origin”says Iulian Lorincz.
Harsh exchange of lines between Diana Buzoianu and PACE senator Paul Gheorghe
Also on Tuesday, there was a harsh exchange of words between Diana Buzoianu, the Minister of the Environment, and PACE Senator Paul Gheorghe.
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to be next to you to explain with reason how incompetent you are?”Paul Gheorghe conveyed to Diana Buzoianu.
The minister’s reply came immediately:
“Arrogance and barking do not take the place of arguments (….) And know that shouting louder into the microphone does not increase your manhood.”
USR senator Elena Dobra intervened in Diana Buzoianu’s defense, telling her colleague from the Opposition not to follow “the model of Mr. Câciu“, alluding to the nervous outburst of the PSD deputy, who, also on Tuesday, raised his voice and hit the table, while asking for explanations from the president of the meeting, the PNL deputy Gabriela Horga.
Senator PACE continued with allegations about the budget’s rationale, which he said was “very poorly constructed”.
Tensions during the budget debates in Parliament
During the debates in Parliament on Thursday, March 19, members of the governing coalition launched attacks on each other. The leader of the PSD, Sorin Grindeanu, said that the current coalition was formed to correct the deficits accumulated in recent years and announced that the social democrats will support the budget, with an emphasis on protecting the vulnerable categories.
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However, he criticized certain measures and called for more social equity.
“We formed this coalition together to correct the deficits made by 4 right-wing and one left-wing prime ministers. From 2020, Romania is in the excessive deficit procedure. We fully agree that we cannot stay with large deficits for a long period of time. The Government just needs to act before disaster strikes.
“Economic arsonists” are those who are happy to fix the deficit on the backs of Romanians. (…) The Social Democratic Party will vote on Romania’s budget. It’s already unduly late. But he will vote for a budget in which we also took into account the most vulnerable of Romanians”, stated the PSD president.
Later, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan declared that he is ashamed when he looks at his PSD colleagues, especially those in the Government, for the situation in which they are put by the party’s leadership.
“If I didn’t know the speakers, I wouldn’t know who is in the government and who is in the opposition”, declared, on Thursday evening, at the end of the budget debates, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
“I could give retorts, but looking at my colleagues from the Government and especially at my colleagues from the PSD, I am sometimes ashamed of their shame and the situations they are put in. And I tell you openly, never, neither in a coalition, nor in an entity, in a company, in a party, can anything be done without respect and collegiality. This is valid in any situation.”
He also said that, as prime minister, he puts his responsibility to the country before political affiliation and urged the parliamentarians to vote on the budget.
