Romania’s Court of Auditors, the public institution that checks all of the state’s expenses, received a lower budget than it asked for this year.

Former Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, the president of the Court of Auditors, accused the Government and the Parliament of breaking the law when approving the institution's budget, saying "everybody's happy if there is no Court," reports local Mediafax.

Vacaroiu said that the approved budget does not even cover the Court’s salary expenses for this year, and that if the budget is kept at the current level, the institution will have to lay off people or risk not having enough money to pay them in the last two months of this year. According to the law, the Court of Auditors asks for a budget and the Government has to grant it.

“If the Government had amendments, it should have presented them motivated in front of the finance-budget committees,” said Vacaroiu.

He added that the Government promised it would grant the institution more money at the budget amendment. However, he explained that he never relies on amendments, that he relies on the law, and the budget needs to be drafted on applicable law.

The budget of the Court of Auditors is RON 254 million (EUR 56.3 million), up 7% compared to 2016. The court has 1,586 employees.

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