Political crisis in Bucharest

As a novelty in post-communist Romania, the parties in the ruling coalition, the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, will table a motion to censure their own Government. Parliament will vote on the motion next week.

Florentin Căpitănescu, 16.06.2017, 13:34

As a novelty in post-communist Romania, the parties in the ruling coalition, the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, will table a motion to censure their own Government. Parliament will vote on the motion next week.

This rather extreme decision was made on Thursday, after the Social Democratic PM Sorin Grindeanu announced his decision not to resign, which also triggered his exclusion from the party. Sworn in half a year ago, after the Social Democrats had won the general election by a landslide, the Grindeanu Cabinet lost its political support on Wednesday. The resignations of his Cabinet members could not change the decision made by the Prime Minister, whose open conflict with the head of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, was further deepened.

Liviu Dragnea: “We did not want this to happen, but regrettably here we are. Unfortunately, during the past 2 months most Cabinet ministers would come to me and to the party and complained over the lack of proper communication with the Prime Minister, and over administrative bottlenecks that it was the Prime Ministers job to set straight. But apparently he didnt.

The president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, in his turn, criticised Grindeanus decision:

Calin Popescu Tariceanu: “What we see is an undesirable circus act coming from a man who became a prime minister not thanks to his own merits, but because a parliamentary majority appointed him to office. At this point, he should have understood that there is only one political, Constitutional solution, namely for him to resign.

According to the ruling coalition leaders, the replacement of the executive team was necessary, given the delays in implementing the governing programme. The criticism is dismissed by the Prime Minister, who says 6 months is not enough time to implement large-scale reforms. Moreover, Grindeanu, in whose nomination as a prime minister Dragnea played the key role, argues that the assessment report on his Cabinets work, drawn up by the Social Democrats, is unfair.

The National Liberal Party in opposition wants a Constitutional solution to be reached, says the partys interim president Raluca Turcan:

Raluca Turcan: “We firmly call on the ruling coalition to end this war, which jeopardises the countrys economic stability and international predictability and affects the citizens, who are waiting for solutions to issues of public interest.

Also in the Opposition, the Save Romania Union says snap elections would be the only decent solution, while the Peoples Movement Party believes the Social Democrats ought to admit that they are unable to keep their campaign promises. In turn, President Klaus Iohannis has asked the two parties in power to settle their internal crisis.

(translated by: Ana Maria Popescu)