Petrișor Peiu criticizes the governing program proposed by Luca Niculescu: “Digitalization does not reduce bureaucracy, because bureaucracy is not caused by physical interaction with officials”

Petrișor Peiu criticized the governing program proposed by Prime Minister Luca Niculescu, arguing that the digitalization of the administration will not automatically reduce bureaucracy and public spending. In a Facebook post, he stated that the main issue is not the physical interaction between citizens and civil servants, but the large volume of information and documents requested by institutions.

Peiu warned that moving procedures online could merely mean transferring bureaucracy to the digital environment, without genuinely simplifying the relationship with the state. He also questioned the costs of IT projects, raising concerns about the risk of “tailor-made” contracts, with values far above the market average.

In this context, the analyst referred to the Microsoft contract scandal, discussions concerning Schwarz Digits, and problems with healthcare information systems. According to data cited by Peiu, only 27.1% of adults in certain regions of Romania have basic digital skills, compared with 60.4% across the European Union.

In 2025, the use of online public services was only 12.9% in South-West Oltenia and just over 27% in Bucharest-Ilfov, while the European average was 57.7%. Peiu argues that these differences must be addressed before accelerating digitalization.

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