President Klaus Iohannis sent a letter to PM Sorin Grindeanu, voicing his discontent with the cuts on the budgets of the national security institutions, referring mainly to the intelligence services, SRI and SIE. Iohannis also warns that the law stipulates that these budget drafts will need the CSAT’s go-ahead before being approved by the Gov’t and sent to the Parliament.
The head of state argues that, although a 15% increase of expenses is envisaged for 2017 compared to last year, the budgets of the national security institutions are down, which would be not only “an unjustified, but also a totally ill-timed” measure.
“Except for the Ministry of Defence, all the other budgets of the national security institutions are suffering cuts, some of them quite significant. At the same time, no credible, pertinent and needed arguments have been brought to explain this financing cut,” says the president in the letter to the premier.
He also noted that, although the Ministry of Defence has a higher budget, the commitment to provide a budget of 2% of the GDP according to the political agreement in 2015, is not observed.
“I come into notice that this approach on the budgetary construction doesn’t prove Romania’s responsibility for the assumed political and international commitments, as well as for the current risks and vulnerabilities in the existing regional and international security context.
In this respect, ensuring national security must be an absolute priority, and not the temporary political vanities. The Gov’t intention to reduce these budgets represents an irresponsible action and a serious mistake. We cannot play with the citizens’ safety, with Romania’s security,” the president pointed out, adding that the Gov’t and the entire political class have the obligation to keep on endorsing these efforts and decreasing the budgets on security ‘would mean an attack against the Romanians’ safety.’
Klaus Iohannis also pledged for the better financing education and research.“The budget allotted to education and research must reflect the importance of these fields for Romania’s future, and it should comprise the necessary money to cover for the announced pay rises and grants, but also to support the rise in the education quality and in the research performance. An educated Romania firstly needs proper budget allotments.”