While citizens and businesses are being prepared for a new tax burden, politically appointed leaders of state authorities and companies continue to receive huge salaries and bonuses regardless of results. Even when institutions record major losses or fail to meet their performance targets, their leaders are rewarded.
In the context of public discussions on new fiscal measures aimed at covering the budget deficit, The Foundation For The Defense Of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS) has identified over 588 million euros wasted by the Romanian state through salaries paid to people in the management of underperforming state-owned companies, lost litigation due to administrative negligence, or failed projects.
For example, at the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), the president earned over 21,500 euros per month in 2024, while the vice-presidents and members of the Council received between 7,400 and 20,000 euros per month. Although in 2022 and 2023 the insurance market was severely affected by the bankruptcies of City Insurance and Euroins, without the ASF intervening effectively to prevent them, poor performance continues to be rewarded.
Another example is the National Forest Guard, where bosses earn around €5,000 a month, even though illegal logging remains a major national problem.
At the beginning of the year, while the government was adopting the ‘train ordinance,’ the management of the National Railway Company CFR received a 50% salary increase, despite not having recorded a net profit in the last three years. This represented an increase in the total budget for management remuneration from 2,081,339 lei in 2024 to 3,055,452 lei in 2025.
At the Romanian Railway Authority (AFER), in the midst of austerity measures, management has budgeted salaries of over €7,000 per month for 2025, double the allowance of the Minister of Transport.
In the case of Oltenia Energy Complex, another state-owned company, the sharp drop in profits was paradoxically followed by a 130 million lei (equivalent to 26 million euro) increase in the wage budget.
Before introducing a new tax burden, the future government must demonstrate responsibility in managing public money. The so-called ‘solidarity tax’ should be applied as a priority within the state apparatus, where waste is systemic.
One of the most serious cases identified by FACIAS in the ‘Turn off the waste tap’ campaign, with a total of €558 million wasted, is that of the National Road Infrastructure Administration Company (CNAIR), which, between 2015 and 2024, paid compensation of over €533 million following disputes lost through the fault of its own employees. Added to these amounts is another €25 million spent on feasibility studies that were either inconclusive or improperly prepared.
These are just six examples of the more than 130,000 public institutions in Romania and the more than 1,300 companies owned by the Romanian state.