Soon after he took office in June, BIRN reported how Romania’s new president, Nicusor Dan, had used a striking metaphor to illustrate the country’s long-standing fiscal imbalance between public revenues and state spending.

“Romanians have been paying for a medium pizza while eating a large one,” Dan said, describing how public spending has consistently exceeded what the economy can afford. “Now someone has to cover the difference,” he added, implicitly acknowledging that correcting the imbalance would entail political and social costs.

To underline the urgency of the situation, the President set a June 30 deadline for a comprehensive fiscal package, meant to reassure both financial markets and EU institutions that Romania was serious about bringing its swelling budget deficit under control.

However, public information and data seen by BIRN show that the June 30 “pizza” deadline was effectively missed in terms of EU fiscal procedures. Romania did not submit a fully agreed, legally endorsed package of deficit-cutting measures to Brussels by that date. Instead, the European Commission repeatedly adjusted the timetable, granting Bucharest more time to deliver credible reforms, while several key fiscal measures remained delayed or were still awaiting parliamentary approval.