Motion of censure against the government

Romanias left-of-centre government is facing its first motion of censure, tabled by the Liberals in opposition

Bogdan Matei, 23.05.2014, 13:35

Two years after coming to power, the country’s Social Democratic Prime Minister Victor Ponta will face on Monday the first motion of censure against his cabinet. The initiators of the motion are the Liberals, who, surprisingly enough, were Ponta’s partners in the ruling coalition until two months ago.

Joining forces as part of the Social-Liberal Union and winning the 2012 parliamentary elections with nearly 70% of the votes, the Social Democrats and the Liberals also formed the government together, in a common effort to address what they called the abuse of the previous Liberal Democratic cabinets guided by president Traian Basescu. Those days are now gone, and the Liberals now joint forces with the Liberal Democrats, the representatives of the pro-presidential People’s Movement, as well as the populist Party of the People for their last motion of censure against the Social Democratic government.

In the text of the motion, the Liberal Party accuses the government of failing to keep its promise as regards tax exemptions for reinvested profits, a 5% reduction in social security contributions, endorsing legislation to regulate first-time land registry entries for farmland and forests and amending the Fiscal Code and the new Forestry Code. The initiators of the motion also accuse the Prime Minister of trying to control the judiciary. In response, the minister delegate for budget Liviu Voinea has recently announced that the 5% reduction in social security contributions will take effect on July 1st.

Analysts expect the Ponta cabinet will have no problems passing this test in Parliament. In order to be passed, the motion needs at least 286 votes, and the Liberals, the Liberal Democrats and the Party of the People only have 218 MEPs in total. The Liberal leader Crin Antonescu is himself sceptical about the chances for the motion to pass, but says the debates will at least give rise to a thorough analysis of the government’s work.

The motion will be discussed in Parliament one day after the European Parliament elections, in which, according to opinion polls, the candidates of the left, mostly from the Social Democratic Party, will get more votes than all the opposition parties together.