Health minister Rogobete accuses former PM Bolojan of lying over health budget cuts

Bolojan's criticism of the rectified budget

Health minister Alexandru Rogobete hit back on Friday, 30 October, at former prime minister Ilie Bolojan, who had said that most of the sums rectified for health reflect Rogobete's failure to allocate money according to priorities rather than preferences or interests. Bolojan also pointed to European funds worth 700 million lei that the ministry had not accessed, a reference to PNRR and cohesion money. The government led by Luca Niculescu adopted the budget rectification that day, and according to Rogobete it raised the health budget by 8.3 billion lei. Rogobete, a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), answered in a Facebook post on Friday evening, saying the figures proved Bolojan wrong. Bolojan leads the National Liberal Party (PNL), and his remarks followed the adoption of the rectification.

Rogobete's account of emergency services funding

Rogobete's Facebook reply opened with a direct challenge to Bolojan.

“Mr Bolojan, the figures do not lie, unlike you! Do you have no limit in manipulating people?”

Rogobete says he asked for 660 million lei at the start of the year to finance emergency services, but that Bolojan, then prime minister, cut that sum by 200 million lei. He argues the cut was made so the government could report lower spending and a smaller deficit. According to him, Friday's rectification gave emergency services about 200 million lei in additional funding, which he said matched exactly the amount removed earlier in the year. He accused Bolojan of hypocrisy and asked who had misjudged the budget estimate, him for requesting the money needed or Bolojan for cutting it. He also said Bolojan had created a financial crisis in emergency services and was now shifting the blame onto those who had warned about it.

Timeline of the dispute

The dispute runs through several dated moments in 2026. Rogobete held the same health post before a censure motion in May 2026, after which the government led by Bolojan was dismissed. The start-of-year funding request and cut are known only from Rogobete's account, which Bolojan's remarks dispute. The chart below sets these beats against the Friday rectification.

The propaganda charge

Rogobete then turned the argument into a broader charge against Bolojan's record on health. He summed up his position in one line.

“You cannot cut 200 million lei, cause blockages, blame others and then pose as a 'saviour' on television.”

He went on to say that health care should not be used as a tool of political messaging, and he accused Bolojan of propaganda. He wrote that the former prime minister had done too much harm to the health system and had created too many crises for his words to carry weight.

“Mr Bolojan, people's health is not an accounting exercise, nor an instrument of political propaganda!”

Rogobete builds his case around the single 200 million lei figure, which he says was cut and then restored. Both the 660 million lei request and the later rectification are presented by him, not independently confirmed in the coverage, so the figures stand as his claims against Bolojan's account.