Passing of the baton in Bucharest

An unprecedented event in Romanian politics took place this month

Corina Cristea, 22.06.2023, 19:46

An unprecedented event in Romanian politics took place this month: a year and a half before the parliamentary elections, Liberal Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă resigned his position, according to the agreement, and his coalition colleague, PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu, took over the position of head of the executive in Bucharest. The political foundation of this change is the agreement signed in November 2021, with the establishment of the National Coalition for Romania. The 12-point document contained some precise moves between ministers, but these were amended following discussions. The negotiations ultimately resulted in tangible consequences in two directions: on the one hand, a more flexible government resulted, and, on the other hand, the UDMR exited the government. The new prime minister states that his priorities are aimed at reducing inflation, increasing purchasing power, but also at a higher percentage for investments being provided for in the budget for next year. The mandate of this government is about reforms and the economy, more concretely, about how we make the economy produce more value and jobs, and the results can be seen concretely in people’s pockets, says Marcel Ciolacu. According to him, the first and most concrete result of of good governance is for inflation to decrease, for people to feel it in the prices of basic products. Along with this approach, the prime minister says, we have other targeted measures to support agriculture, construction and energy, from my point of view, these are the areas that make a difference for people. Speaking on Radio Romania, university professor Andrei Țăranu made an x-ray of the political situation in Bucharest.

Romania had, let’s say, ascendancy over the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in terms of this somewhat unusual construction. It was, and still is, a model of success, because it brought what Romania has not had for a long time, namely political stability, or at least the appearance of political stability. North Macedonia too looks with great interest at the Romanian model. After the June 26 elections in Greece, if a clear majority is not obtained by Mitsotakis, he will probably think of a formula like that. In a coalition system, the Romanian model could be a successful model, at least for the surrounding countries.

For Romania, 2024 will be an electoral year par excellence, with parliamentary, local, presidential, and the European Parliament. Already, everyone is watching the Romanian political scene, I mean the citizens of Romania, because things are in constant change, says Andrei Țăranu:

Of course we have parties that are growing, especially the extremist ones, others that are stagnating, and others that are falling. Those who are diminishing try to find new pillars, so that one can stop this fall and then try to climb back up. It will be a hot summer, not only from a thermal point of view, but also from a political point of view, because it is the summer before the elections, and on June 6 next year, so in less than a year, the great electoral battle in Romania will begin, June 6 being the day of the European Parliament elections. But these are litmus elections, they are elections in which each party sees very clearly what its position is on the political stage. However, some parties have polls that do not show them doing very well.

The parties, at least the governing ones, PSD and PNL, will certainly not have a quiet summer, because a lot of things have to happen in Romania, says Andrei Ţăranu:

Unfortunately, our political model, the pandemic, many things have overlapped, and they are occurring on top of a crisis that we see spreading throughout the European Union. A Germany that has an inflation of over 9%, something unheard of in Germany after the Second World War, I mean the Federal Republic of German,y and then Germany today, means that many markets that Germany is dependent on, including Romania, to be very volatile. However, when this happens, especially during the summer, politicians must react quickly, find public policies that prevent very big crises. Let’s remember, in the case of Romania, the year 2010, which started as it did, but in the summer it led to large-scale and far-reaching protests and social tensions. However, the Ciolacu Government will not have a very simple year from many points of view, economic, electoral, political, etc.

President Klaus Iohannis also told the members of the government that a difficult period awaits them, with many problems to solve. The head of state is, however, confident that Marcel Ciolacu’s term will be characterized by stability, efficiency and seriousness, just like his predecessor’s term. We still have half a year in which we can solve a lot of things, after which we will enter a super-election year, which in itself is already a challenge for a society, we will have four rounds of elections, and, at the same time, the country must be governed responsibly and with good results, the head of state pointed out. At the same time, he pointed out that the governmental swap – a first-of-its-kind procedure for Romania – was carried out quickly and without a hitch.