Scenes worthy of Caragiale in Parliament during the vote in the committees

The debates on the 2026 state budget degenerated on Wednesday in the joint budget-finance committees, where a PSD amendment regarding social assistance for pensioners and vulnerable families caused both a procedural conflict and a new round of tensions in the coalition. The budget draft enters the joint plenary of Parliament on Wednesday, at 4:00 p.m., and the final vote is scheduled for Thursday.

The scandal erupted after the vote on the social-democratic amendment. According to the data presented in the committee, 51 parliamentarians were present: 23 voted „for”, 19 „against”, one abstained, and eight AUR parliamentarians, although present, did not vote. This is where the dispute began: the liberals invoked the majority rule of half plus one of those present, which would have meant that the amendment did not meet the required number of votes, while the PSD contested the interpretation and requested a resumption of the vote. The meeting was suspended for clarification.