In brief

  • The ordinance creates 12 posts that can be counted in the text and leaves three categories without a figure. The Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Internal Affairs, is given his own working apparatus made up of one state adviser and 2 state secretaries, plus a cabinet of 3 contract posts, separate from the cabinet of the ministry. The office of Minister Delegate for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence and the office of Minister Delegate for Pre-University Education are set up, each assisted by 2 state secretaries. Left without a figure are the cabinets of the two Ministers Delegate and the state secretaries of the General Secretariat of the Government.
  • The money is not new money. Article 6(3) says that the expenditure is to be covered „în limita creditelor bugetare și de angajament aprobate potrivit legii” (within the limits of the budget and commitment appropriations approved in accordance with the law) for the principal authorising officers concerned, and Article 6(1) authorises the Ministry of Finance to alter the structure of the State budget for 2026 only. The salaries of the 12 posts are paid from the budget of the General Secretariat of the Government, of the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism and of the Ministry of Education and Research, by redistribution inside sums already approved.
  • Every concrete power is put off for 30 days. Article 5 gives the three institutions until 19 November 2026 to put the implementing decisions to the Government, and Article 4(3) ties the delimitation of the Ministers Delegate’s powers as against the ministers responsible to precisely those decisions. Until then, the two Ministers Delegate are in office without the act saying what they do and do not sign.
Act: Government Emergency Ordinance no. 40 of 20 October 2026 on the establishment of certain measures at the level of central public administration
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial), Part I, no. 879 of 20 October 2026, pages 6-8
Who it concerns: the Government’s working apparatus and the General Secretariat of the Government, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania, the Ministry of Finance, the National Institute of Administration, the high-ranking civil servants appointed on a temporary basis, plus the taxpayer who pays for the posts
Takes effect: 20 October 2026, the date of publication. The ordinance contains no article on its own entry into force, and Article 5, Article 8 and Article 9 refer to „the date of entry into force of this emergency ordinance” and to the date of publication of the Prime Minister’s decision respectively

The Government dressed the new governmental structure in financial rules on the same day as Parliament granted it confidence. Decision of the Parliament of Romania no. 4/2026 granting confidence in the Government appeared in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 876 of 20 October 2026. Three issues later, in no. 879 of the same day, comes the part that costs: the Deputy Prime Minister’s own working apparatus, the two offices of Minister Delegate and the four state secretaries who assist them.

The figure that can be counted in the text is 12. Three posts in the own working apparatus of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Internal Affairs, one state adviser and 2 state secretaries, under Article 1(4). Three contract posts in the cabinet he holds in his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister, separate from the cabinet of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, under Article 1(5). Three at the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism: the office of Minister Delegate for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, set up by Article 2(1), and the 2 state secretaries under Article 2(3). Three more at the Ministry of Education and Research, on the same pattern, under Article 3.

The 12 are not all of it. Article 2(4) and Article 3(4) each pay for „cabinetul acestuia” (his cabinet) as well, without saying how many posts it holds. Article 7 point 1 rewrites Article 20(2) of the Administrative Code and adds at the General Secretariat of the Government, alongside the deputy secretaries general, „unul sau mai mulți secretari de stat” (one or more state secretaries), again without a number. Anyone who wants to know how many new people the ordinance brings in altogether has to wait for the organisational decisions under Article 5 and for the Prime Minister’s decisions.

One detail in Article 2(3) and Article 3(3) deserves reading twice: the 2 state secretaries of each Minister Delegate are appointed „suplimentar față de numărul reglementat conform legii” (in addition to the number laid down in accordance with the law). The statutory ceiling on state secretaries at the two ministries is not changed, it is exceeded, and the ordinance sets no new ceiling in its place.

What it changes in practice

From 20 October 2026, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Internal Affairs, works in that capacity through a structure without legal personality inside the Government’s working apparatus. His powers as Deputy Prime Minister are not in the ordinance: Article 1(2) refers them to a decision of the Prime Minister. Article 1(3) gives him, by contrast, the coordination of the public institutions and of the structures within the Government’s working apparatus.

The money travels along two separate routes, and Article 1(6) keeps them expressly apart. The own working apparatus and the Deputy Prime Minister’s cabinet are paid from the State budget, through the budget of the General Secretariat of the Government. The allowance as a member of the Government and the cabinet organised in the ministry he heads are paid from the budget of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The separation has a practical point: if the person loses the office of Deputy Prime Minister and remains a minister, only the line at the General Secretariat of the Government disappears.

In digitalisation, the chain of coordination now has two steps. The Minister Delegate for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence carries out his activity under the coordination of the Minister of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, under Article 2(1), and the Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania comes under the coordination of the Minister Delegate, under Article 2(5). The Authority remains subordinated to the ministry, so it reports along one line and is coordinated along another.

The Ministers Delegate acquire, through Article 4(1) and (2), the usual instruments: they issue orders and instructions, initiate and give opinions on draft legislation and countersign, together with the minister responsible, the legislation adopted by the Government in the fields for which they were invested. The countersignature alongside the minister responsible is worth noting: a digitalisation act will from now on carry two signatures from the same ministry.

The part with the longest effect concerns not the ministers but the civil service. Article 7 points 3 and 4 amend the Administrative Code and open the specialised training programmes under Article 395 to the staff referred to in Article 382(c), (h) and (i) who have been directed to exercise, on a temporary basis, a post in the category of high-ranking civil servants. In exchange, the new Article 509(34) places an obligation on them: proof of completion of the programme, within one year at most. For someone whose decision is published on 20 October 2026, the period expires on 20 October 2027.

The same new paragraph also allows the post to be exercised on a temporary basis within an authority or public institution other than the one where the person works. This is a mobility the previous text did not have and which, in practice, allows a vacant high-ranking civil service post to be filled by someone borrowed from another institution.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

Before 20 October 2026, the Administrative Code provided for the Secretary General of the Government assisted by deputy secretaries general. Article 7 point 1 adds, in Article 20(2), the possibility that he be assisted „și, după caz, de unul sau mai mulți secretari de stat” (and, as the case may be, by one or more state secretaries), appointed and dismissed by decision of the Prime Minister. The General Secretariat of the Government thus gains a category of office holders it did not have before.

Article 7 point 2 rewrites Article 21(3) of the Administrative Code and shifts the delegation of the Deputy Prime Minister’s powers: where he is temporarily unable to carry out his duties, apart from the situations laid down in Article 46, he may delegate by order the powers established by decision of the Prime Minister to the state secretaries or, as the case may be, to the state advisers in his own working apparatus. The wording presupposes the existence of an own working apparatus, which is exactly the structure that Article 1(4) creates.

In the training of high-ranking civil servants, the change is twofold. Until now, the circle of those taking part in the programmes under Article 395 was closed by paragraph (2); the new paragraph (3) opens it to those appointed on a temporary basis. And, as a mirror image, Article 509(34) turns participation from an opportunity into an obligation with a deadline. Article 9 adds a further layer as to application in time: the obligation applies from the date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, of the Prime Minister’s decision on the temporary exercise of the post.

As for pre-university education, the preamble invokes „delimitarea atribuțiilor” (the delimitation of powers), and Article 3 translates that into an office of Minister Delegate within the Ministry of Education and Research. The delimitation itself, however, is not made here: Article 4(3) refers it to the Government decisions under Article 5.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • The separation of budgets in Article 1(6) is clean: the Deputy Prime Minister’s apparatus on the General Secretariat of the Government, the allowance and the ministerial cabinet on the budget of the ministry he heads. Two capacities are not mixed in the same budget.
  • Article 6(3) forbids exceeding the budget and commitment appropriations already approved, so the posts do not come with a budget revision in the autumn of 2026.
  • Article 4(2) requires the countersignature of the minister responsible on the legislation of the Minister Delegate, which keeps accountability inside the ministry and prevents two parallel public policies in the same field.
  • The figures for the Deputy Prime Minister’s apparatus are fixed in the text, not left to a decision: one state adviser, 2 state secretaries, 3 contract posts. The structure cannot grow quietly without amending the ordinance.
  • Opening the specialised training programmes to those appointed on a temporary basis solves a real blockage: until now, the person actually holding the post had no way of obtaining the qualification required for it.
  • The mobility under Article 509(34) allows a high-ranking civil service post to be covered from another institution, without a permanent transfer.
  • The single 30-day period in Article 5 and Article 8 gives one verifiable date, 19 November 2026, for all the implementing measures.

What remains a problem

  • The total number of new posts cannot be found out from the act. The two Minister Delegate cabinets and the state secretaries of the General Secretariat of the Government are paid for without being counted.
  • The 4 state secretaries appointed „in addition to the number laid down in accordance with the law” exceed a statutory ceiling without replacing it. The next ordinance can use the same device, on the same basis.
  • Article 6(1) authorises budget changes for 2026 only. The full-year cost, which arrives in 2027, is mentioned nowhere and is not estimated.
  • Article 1(3) hands over the coordination of „the public institutions and structures within the Government’s working apparatus” without any list, and Article 1(2) leaves the powers to a decision. Anyone wanting to know who coordinates what has nowhere to look.
  • The two Ministers Delegate have been in office since 20 October 2026, but their concrete powers depend on decisions that may come at any point up to 19 November 2026.
  • The training obligation under Article 509(34) starts running before the programmes have rules of organisation, which Article 8 brings in within 30 days.
  • The Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania remains subordinated to the ministry and comes under the coordination of the Minister Delegate, without the act saying who signs the measures the Authority proposes.
  • Not one cost figure appears in the ordinance, not even an order of magnitude, although all the expenditure falls on the State budget.

Practical advice

  1. If you work at the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism or at the Ministry of Education and Research, watch the Official Gazette of Romania until 19 November 2026: the organisational decisions under Article 5 are the ones that say, in concrete terms, what passes to the Minister Delegate and what stays with the minister responsible.
  2. If you exercise a post in the category of high-ranking civil servants on a temporary basis, make a note of the date on which the Prime Minister’s decision is published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I. That is when the year within which completion of the specialised training programme must be proved starts running, under Article 9.
  3. Do not wait until the last months of the year to enrol on the programme. The rules of organisation, the number of panels, the syllabus, the timetable and the fee are adopted by order of the Minister of Development, Public Works and Administration, on a proposal from the President of the National Institute of Administration, within 30 days of 20 October 2026. The first session will take shape around that timetable.
  4. If you are preparing draft legislation in the field of digitalisation or of pre-university education, allow from the outset for two signatures from the same ministry: that of the Minister Delegate and that of the minister responsible, under Article 4(2).
  5. For correspondence with the Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania, check in the organisational decision to come whether the opinion is to be sought from the Minister Delegate or from the Minister of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism. Article 2(1) and (5) leave both routes open.
  6. If you are one of the principal authorising officers concerned, prepare your proposal to the Ministry of Finance in good time: Article 6(1) and (2) make the 2026 budget change depend on your proposal and your request, not on action taken of its own motion.
  7. When you seek a delegation of powers from the Deputy Prime Minister, ask for the instrument in writing and check whether it is addressed to a state secretary or to the state adviser in the own working apparatus. Article 21(3) of the Administrative Code, in its new form, does not allow delegation to anyone else.
  8. If you follow public spending, ask under Law no. 544/2001 on free access to information of public interest for the number of posts actually filled in the two Minister Delegate cabinets. The ordinance does not count them, so the figure exists only in the organisational measures.

Frequently asked questions

When does the ordinance apply from?
From 20 October 2026, the date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 879. The act contains no article on its own entry into force, and Article 5 and Article 8 refer to „the date of entry into force of this emergency ordinance” without fixing it.
How many new posts does it create in total?
12 can be counted in the text: one state adviser and 2 state secretaries in the Deputy Prime Minister’s own working apparatus, 3 contract posts in his cabinet, one office of Minister Delegate and 2 state secretaries at economy and digitalisation, one office of Minister Delegate and 2 state secretaries at education. On top of that, the act pays for the cabinets of the two Ministers Delegate and allows state secretaries at the General Secretariat of the Government, without saying how many.
Where does the money for the new posts come from?
From the State budget, through the budget of the General Secretariat of the Government for the Deputy Prime Minister’s apparatus, and through the budgets of the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism and of the Ministry of Education and Research for the Ministers Delegate. Article 6(3) limits the expenditure to the budget and commitment appropriations already approved, so the sums are redistributed, not added.
Does the Deputy Prime Minister get two cabinets?
Yes, and the act keeps them separate. Article 1(5) gives him a cabinet of 3 contract posts for his work as Deputy Prime Minister, distinct from the cabinet organised in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The first is paid through the budget of the General Secretariat of the Government, the second through the ministry’s budget.
What can a Minister Delegate sign?
Orders and instructions, under Article 4(1). He initiates and gives opinions on draft legislation and countersigns the legislation adopted by the Government in the field for which he was invested, together with the minister responsible, under Article 4(2). The exact delimitation as against the minister responsible is established by the Government decisions under Article 5.
What changes for the Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania?
It remains an institution with legal personality, subordinated to the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, but passes under the coordination of the Minister Delegate for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, under Article 2(5).
Who has to prove completion of a training programme, and within what period?
The persons who have been directed to exercise, on a temporary basis, a post in the category of high-ranking civil servants, under Article 509(3) of the Administrative Code. The period is one year at most, and Article 9 ties it to the date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, of the Prime Minister’s decision on the temporary exercise of the post.
What happens if the one-year period is not observed?
The ordinance does not say. Article 509(34) lays down the obligation and the period without attaching any consequence, and Article 9 governs only the moment from which the obligation applies.
By when must the implementing measures be adopted?
Within 30 days of 20 October 2026, that is by 19 November 2026. Article 5 requires the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, the Ministry of Education and Research and the General Secretariat of the Government to put the necessary drafts to the Government, and Article 8 sets the same period for the proposal from the President of the National Institute of Administration.
Can a civil servant be appointed on a temporary basis in an institution other than the one where they work?
Yes, this is one of the act’s novelties. The new Article 509(34) allows the post to be exercised on a temporary basis within authorities or public institutions other than the one where the person works, in accordance with the law.

Errors and inconsistencies in the published text

  • Article 9 as against Article 7 point 4, which inserts Article 509(34) into the Administrative Code. The same obligation, with the same one-year period, starts from two different moments. Article 509(34) counts the year „de la data exercitării cu caracter temporar a unei funcții” (from the date of the temporary exercise of a post), while Article 9 counts it „de la data publicării respectivei decizii” (from the date of publication of that decision) of the Prime Minister. The two dates coincide only if the decision is published on the day the exercise of the post begins. If publication comes later, or the decision fixes a different starting date, the person under the obligation has to choose between two periods, and the act does not say which prevails.
  • Article 7 point 2, Article 21(3) in its new form, as against Article 4(1). The delegation of the Deputy Prime Minister’s powers is made „prin ordin” (by order). The ordinance, however, expressly confers the power to issue orders only on the Ministers Delegate, through Article 4(1), and contains no provision giving the Deputy Prime Minister that instrument in his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister, a capacity which Article 1(4) expressly separates from that of minister. For a Deputy Prime Minister who does not head a ministry, the delegation mechanism is left without any instrument to set it in motion.
  • Article 1(3) as against Article 1(2). Paragraph (3) establishes directly, by ordinance, that the Deputy Prime Minister coordinates „instituțiile publice și structurile din cadrul aparatului de lucru al Guvernului” (the public institutions and structures within the Government’s working apparatus), without listing them and without limiting them. Paragraph (2) leaves the powers of the Deputy Prime Minister to a decision of the Prime Minister. From the two paragraphs it cannot be established whether the power under paragraph (3) is a minimum that the decision cannot narrow or a power the decision may allocate differently, and the range of institutions coordinated cannot be determined from the act.

Editorial analysis

The ordinance has 9 articles and does three different things: it assembles the structure of the new Government, opens a staffing valve at the General Secretariat of the Government and rewrites, in passing, the regime for training high-ranking civil servants. The first two read easily. The third is the part that will still be producing effects in 2030, and it is the only one introduced by amending Government Emergency Ordinance no. 57/2019, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 555 of 5 July 2019.

The question of money gets no answer in the text. The ordinance sends all the expenditure to the State budget and caps it at the appropriations already approved, but writes no sum, not even an order of magnitude for 12 posts. More importantly, Article 6(1) authorises the Ministry of Finance to alter the structure of the State budget „for 2026” only, and from 20 October to 31 December 2026 there are 73 days. The impact absorbed by the current budget is therefore about one fifth of a year. The 12-month cost, the one that enters the 2027 budget, is neither estimated nor mentioned, although it is almost five times the one the act authorises.

The second figure that emerges from putting two articles together is the ratio between the periods the act imposes. It gives the administration 30 days, until 19 November 2026, to put forward the implementing decisions, and another 30 days for the order setting the rules of the training programmes. It gives the person concerned a year. On paper, the ratio looks generous. In practice, the civil servant’s year starts from the publication of the Prime Minister’s decision, so it can start on 21 October 2026, while the timetable of the programme they have to enrol on does not yet exist and may appear a month later. The individual answers for a period that started before the mechanism for meeting it, and Article 509(34) provides for no suspension during the time when no session is organised.

The third thing that shows up only by counting: the ordinance fixes the Deputy Prime Minister’s posts precisely, 1 plus 2 plus 3, and leaves all the others without a figure. The cabinets of the two Ministers Delegate are paid for by Article 2(4) and Article 3(4) without being sized, and the state secretaries of the General Secretariat of the Government appear, through Article 7 point 1, as „one or more”. The 4 state secretaries of the Ministers Delegate are, on top of that, appointed „in addition to the number laid down in accordance with the law”, that is above a ceiling the act neither amends nor replaces. The asymmetry is telling: what could be counted publicly was counted, and what concerned the sizing of the cabinets was left to decisions that do not pass through Parliament.

What should be changed

  • A single moment from which the training year runs. Article 9 and Article 509(34) need to be aligned on the same date, preferably the date of publication of the decision, the only one publicly verifiable. The practical effect: the civil servant and the institution calculate the same period, and an inspection cannot dispute the date from which it is counted.
  • Suspension of the period for as long as no session is organised. A sentence in Article 9 suspending the running of the year until the timetable provided for in Article 8 is published would remove the risk of the obligation becoming impossible for reasons beyond the person’s control.
  • Counting the posts in the Ministers Delegate’s cabinets, in the text of the ordinance. Three posts, as the Deputy Prime Minister’s cabinet has, would make the total figure for new staff public, and anyone could work out the cost without a request for public information.
  • A new ceiling on state secretaries, instead of the derogation. If the two ministries need 2 extra state secretaries each, the statutory ceiling has to be amended to the real figure, not exceeded through the formula „in addition to the number laid down”. The practical effect: the next governmental structure can no longer increase the number of office holders by repeating the derogation.
  • The instrument through which the Deputy Prime Minister delegates his powers. Article 21(3) of the Administrative Code ought to indicate an instrument the Deputy Prime Minister can issue in that capacity, not an „order”. The practical effect: the delegation becomes workable for a Deputy Prime Minister who does not head a ministry as well.
  • A list of the institutions coordinated, in the Government decision under Article 5. Setting out the structures within the Government’s working apparatus that Article 1(3) places under his coordination would answer, for the civil servant and for the citizen, the simple question of who decides in their own institution.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 879 of 20 October 2026, pages 6-8 8 pages PDF, 83 KB the act starts on page 6

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.