Romania's Senate passes amended defence laws with days to spare before EU funding deadline

Central European Times 28 May 2026 1 min read

Romania's upper house has approved two emergency ordinances clearing the last legislative hurdles for the country to sign military procurement contracts under the European Union's SAFE programme.

The Senate voted on Tuesday to adopt both pieces of legislation, though in amended form. The legislation is required to unlock Romania's access to up to 16.68 billion euros in low-interest EU loans under SAFE — the Security Action for Europe instrument — intended to fund the modernisation of the country's armed forces and security infrastructure.

The vote, however, was overshadowed by open recriminations between PSD and the National Liberal Party (PNL). PSD senators argued that the government had improperly bundled unrelated provisions — including tax breaks for certain businesses — into a defence ordinance, and moved to remove them. The Bolojan government had adopted the ordinance without prior legislative approval, which PSD senator Liviu-Lucian Mazilu described as acting "in contempt of the law and the constitution."

The political row comes as Romania races against time to sign individual procurement contracts before Sunday's deadline. Acting Defence Minister Radu Miruță acknowledged on Wednesday that the process had been far from smooth. "There are things that were blocked last night at midnight, and were unblocked this morning at seven," he said, describing the obstacles as commercial in nature.

Mr Miruță said he could not confirm how many contracts would be signed before the deadline expired. He added that some defence companies had initially been sceptical about the eligibility requirements — which include minimum levels of domestic production — imposed by parliament. "They thought it was a joke," he said. "It is not a joke."

Romania's defence ministry has the largest share of the programme, with 15 procurement projects, three of which have already been signed. Twelve further contracts remain to be concluded. Tensions between the defence and finance ministries over the programme's terms have further delayed the process.

Romania, which shares the longest border with Ukraine of any NATO member state, regards the SAFE programme as central to its ambitions to become a regional security and defence hub on the alliance's eastern flank.

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