As
\nof Saturday, PM Florin C\u00ee\u0163u is the president of the National Liberal Party, the
\nleader of the ruling coalition in Bucharest, after defeating his former party chief
\nLudovic Orban. The two spared no efforts during the battle for supremacy, and
\ncommentators agree that the competition degenerated, severely damaging the
\nparty image and, more importantly, virtually obstructing the work of the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
This
\ncomes at a time when Romania is faced with yet another shortage of intensive
\ncare beds for severe COVID cases, and with a dramatic increase in energy prices. The
\nLiberals’ new president, Florin C\u00ee\u0163u, sees his election as the starting point
\nof a trend that will change the country.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Florin
<\/p>\n
While
<\/p>\n
Without
<\/p>\n
The
<\/p>\n
Marcel
<\/p>\n
A
<\/p>\n
The
Romania’s PM Florin C\u00ee\u0163u was elected president of the National Liberal Party, but his Cabinet is in a difficult position<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":89941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[32992,32984,30175,29286,35233,31035,32210,30257,29933,29244],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-89940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-cabinet","tag-coalition","tag-election","tag-government","tag-liberal","tag-motion","tag-no-confidence","tag-party","tag-pm","tag-president"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nC\u00ee\u0163u<\/strong>: I promise to be the president of all
\nLiberals, regardless of your vote. We are a united party and will use all our
\nresources against our political opponent, the Social Democratic Party. You should
\nknow that this was not just a campaign, it was a movement, started within the
\nNational Liberal Party, a movement that will change Romania for the better.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nfor 60% of the participants in the Liberals’ congress Florin C\u00ee\u0163u is the
\nsolution, for their former partners in the ruling coalition, USR PLUS, he is
\nthe problem. USR PLUS left the right-of-centre coalition after the justice
\nminister Stelian Ion was dismissed out of the blue, and said they would not
\nreturn in the government unless Florin C\u00ee\u0163u gives up the PM post. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nUSR PLUS, C\u00ee\u0163u’s Cabinet has no parliamentary majority to back it, and risks
\nbeing dismissed if the no-confidence motion tabled by USR PLUS and the
\nnationalist party AUR is validated by the Constitutional Court and passed in
\nParliament. This
\nis precisely why the new Liberal leader announced negotiations with all
\npolitical parties, to put together a parliamentary majority to support his
\ncabinet.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nSocial Democrats in opposition seem to want C\u00ee\u0163u dismissed as well. They say
\nthe days of the current government are numbered and that, in case the USR PLUS
\n– AUR motion fails, they have drafted their own no-confidence motion. The
\nSocial Democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu had this to say:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nCiolacu<\/strong>: Definitely, as soon as the Constitutional Court greenlights the
\nmotion, the Social Democratic Party will vote in its favour. If the Court
\ndismisses the motion, we will immediately table our own motion against the
\ngovernment and will invite the other parties to back it. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nminority government is not a novelty in Romania. A government made up of the
\nLiberals and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, unofficially
\nbacked by the Social Democrats, and headed by C\u0103lin Popescu T\u0103riceanu, was in
\npower between 2007 and the elections of 2008. The price was high, however: the
\ngovernment had to give up all major reform projects and to adopt populist
\nmeasures, lacking financial support.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nsame threatens to be the case at present as well, although Florin C\u00ee\u0163u promised
\nadamantly to put an end to irresponsible public spending and to streamline public
\nadministration. (tr. A.M. Popescu<\/em>)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"