The Presidential Administration announced in a press release on Tuesday that the CSAT is currently in the process of obtaining its individual members’ approval for a decision on the government’s planned state budget revision, which was presented earlier in August by prime minister Viorica Dancila.
It also added that it sent an official document in this regard to the Finance Ministry, after minister Eugen Teodorovici sent a letter to CSAT requesting details about the review process.
Following the news, Teodorovici said the Governemnt would approve the revision next week regardless of the defense council’s review. He said current legal provisions on budget amendments do not explicitly require the instituion’s approval.
“From my point of view, we can pass it without this review, because it’s not written anywhere in the law, it’s just a tradition that was followed (…) I hope we won’t need this anymore next year,” said Teodorovici, who added that the 2015 budget revision was passed without CSAT review.
The budget revision stipulates budget cuts for multiple ministries, but also for all of Romania’s intelligence agencies and for the Presidential Administration. The country’s defense council is headed by the head of state.