The members of Florin Citu’s
\nCabinet are this week appearing before Parliament’s specialist committees, a procedural
\nstep before the investiture vote. This is the third round of hearings in a matter
\nof months. The committees will interview the same ministers whom they
\ninterviewed last November, after the leader of the National Liberal Party
\nLudovic Orban, took over as Prime Minister from Social-Democrat Viorica
\nDancila, the same Orban who last month was ousted under a no-confidence motion
\nin Parliament. Orban was again nominated by the President, but the Constitutional
\nCourt ruled against this nomination. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The only modification brought to the
\ncurrent cabinet is Lucian Heius as the new Finance Minister, a position left
\nvacant when Florin Citu was designated Prime Minister. The Liberals say they
\nare negotiating with the other parliamentary parties, except the
\nSocial-Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, in order to
\nform a majority. The Liberals account for 20% of Parliament’s seats, where the
\nSocial-Democrats still hold the majority. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Therefore in order to pass, Citu’s
\nCabinet needs votes from all sides of the political spectrum. Dan Barna, the
\nleader of the third-largest party in Parliament, Save Romania Union, said
\nfollowing Monday’s talks that the Liberal Party has made no requests regarding
\nthe investiture of the new Cabinet and that the meeting with Florin Citu was
\nstrictly technical. In turn, Kelemen Hunor, the leader of the Democratic Union
\nof Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, says his party has not yet made any decision
\nto support the Liberal Government. The Pro Romania Party, made up of dissidents
\nfrom the Social-Democratic Party and led by the former Prime Minister Victor
\nPonta, announced its members will vote against the new Cabinet. Finally, the votes
\nof the Social-Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats seem
\nto be of little interest to the Liberals, whose obvious disinterest in the
\ncurrent negotiations has prompted political pundits to say the Liberal Party
\nmight still try to force early elections, based on its superior position in
\nsurveys. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Early elections can be held if two consecutive governments are rejected
\nover 60 days and Parliament is dissolved. The President favors this scenario
\nand reacted to the Constitutional Court’s ruling against Orban’s second
\nnomination as Prime Minister, saying that chances to organize snap elections
\nhave dropped below 50%. Experts say June 21 is the deadline for early
\nelections, as after this date Parliament can no longer be dissolved, as it enters
\nits last six months in office. Early elections have never been held in Romania
\nsince the anticommunist revolution of 1989, no matter how much instability our
\ncountry has seen at political level. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Political uncertainty continues to grip the capital city<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":84876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[35391,30168,32086,31399,39898],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-84875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-florin-citu","tag-ludovic-orban","tag-negotiations","tag-new-cabinet","tag-parliament-majority"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n