Romania's designated prime minister Tomac unveils governing program, betting on territorial reform to unlock EU funds

Prioritatea zero: territorial reform

The centrepiece of the document is what Tomac calls the "priority zero" — an administrative-territorial reform that would create functional regions with legal personality, impose minimum viability thresholds for communes and towns, and redistribute competences and fiscal resources. Romania is currently the only EU member state without such a reform, the program notes, operating with over 3,000 administrative units, hundreds of which lack the resources to deliver basic public services.

“Romania is the only EU country that has not carried out an administrative-territorial reform to European standards. The territorial restructuring is the necessary condition for any sustainable sectoral reform — administration, health, education, European funds, local development.”

The text frames this overhaul as a precondition for the other chapters to function, from multi-annual local budgets to regional authorities able to contract EU funds for the 2028–2034 programming period.

Economic package and fiscal predictability

The program opens with a stark diagnosis: GDP growth of just 0.7% in 2025, a technical recession confirmed by the statistics institute (two consecutive quarters of contraction ending with a 1.9% drop in Q4 2025), inflation at 10.7% in April 2026 — the highest in the EU for food prices — the leu/euro rate hitting an all-time high of 5.2180, and 10-year government bond yields at 7.38%, double those of Greece and Bulgaria. The business environment absorbed the most severe fiscal shock since accession.

To rebuild confidence, the program proposes short-term measures such as a positive fiscal scoring for compliant taxpayers (VAT refunds with deferred audit, simplified instalments, fewer inspections), extending the pre-filled Single Declaration to all categories of self-employed persons, halting unjustified 13th and 14th salaries and bonuses in fully state-owned companies, and a minimum six-month gap between publication in the Official Journal and the entry into force of any tax change affecting businesses. It also extends the 9% VAT rate on apartments contracted by 31 December 2025 and raises the deductibility limit for Pillar III private pension contributions from €400 to €1,000 per year.

“This is the most important structural reform that Romania can start. Not as an electoral theme and not as a theoretical exercise, but as a necessary condition for a more efficient state, more balanced and better able to respond to citizens' needs.”

The political arithmetic: PSD support

Tomac needs a simple majority in Parliament, and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has not yet confirmed its backing. The program incorporates several demands set by the PSD as conditions for support: elimination of the health insurance contribution (CASS) for mothers, indexation of pensions from 1 January 2027, and the return of a 5% VAT rate for books. The PSD is expected to announce its decision on Monday.

Tomac's communication team said the version published on Saturday has not yet been submitted to Parliament and may still undergo changes. The cabinet would include three deputy prime ministers, two of them without portfolios — Valeriu Nistor and Bogdan Dumitru.

Energy, digital, and sectoral chapters

Beyond the headline reforms, the document commits to large strategic energy investments: refurbishing Unit 1 at the Cernavodă nuclear plant, preparing reactors 3 and 4, exploiting the Neptun Deep gas field, developing the Vertical Corridor, and making offshore wind in the Black Sea operational. In digitalisation, Tomac promises an electronic identity for all Romanians, a European digital identity wallet, a single state portal organised around life events, a government cloud, and the use of artificial intelligence in public administration.

For education, the program pledges more predictable teacher salaries, a universal "healthy meal" programme, and expanded after-school schemes. Other chapters cover health, justice and the rule of law, and infrastructure, all predicated on the administrative-territorial reform that Tomac insists must come first.