After a nearly 3-month long political crisis, Romania has
\na new government with full executive powers as of Thursday. But its political
\ncomplexion is one that even the most skilled political analysts could not have
\npredicted a while ago.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the autumn of 2019, after the Social-Democratic government
\nheaded by Viorica D\u0103ncil\u0103 was dismissed through a no-confidence vote, the
\nNational Liberal Party, encouraged by president Klaus Iohannis himself, vowed
\nto send its political opponent, the Social Democratic Party, in opposition for
\nthe next two parliamentary terms at least. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
They managed to do so a year later, in December 2020, not
\nby winning the election but by building a governmental coalition of the parties
\nplaced second, third and fifth in the vote-namely the Liberal Party, Save
\nRomania Union (USR) and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR).
\nThe Social Democrats, who had actually won the largest number of seats in
\nParliament, were forced into the opposition. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
They saw an opportunity this September, when USR left
\nthe ruling coalition over disagreements with ex-PM Florin C\u00ee\u021bu. The Social
\nDemocrats leapt at the chance and tabled a no-confidence motion against the
\nremaining minority government. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Two failed attempts at forming a minority government followed,
\none by USR and the second by the Liberals jointly with UDMR. The Liberals and
\nthe Social Democrats, archenemies until recently, eventually sat down to
\ndiscuss a coalition government, together with UDMR and the ethnic minorities
\ngroup in Parliament. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the new government, headed by the Liberal
\nNicolae Ciuc\u0103, easily secured Parliament’s vote of confidence and were sworn in
\nbefore the president. Putting one’s ego aside seems to have been one of the
\nthemes of the day. President Klaus Iohannis pointed out: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Klaus Iohannis: People are sick and tired of crises, of promises. People
\nwant action and results. I invite you to deliver. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In turn, PM Nicolae Ciuc\u0103, a retired general, promised: \n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Nicolae Ciuc\u0103: We undertake to do everything in our power to
\nimprove Romania’s economic, social and healthcare situation. We have come to
\nunderstand that Romanians’ interests are above all egos and political enmity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
And the Social Democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu also
\ntalked about leaving egos aside and taking urgent action to ensure Romania’s
\nstability:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Marcel Ciolacu: We will increase child allowances, pensions,
\nminimum wages and allowances for people with disabilities. Pensioners with the
\nsmallest benefits will also receive aid to cover their bills this winter. We will
\nbring more money to the state budget, but also to the people.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The new ministers have already rolled up their
\nsleeves. We’ll see how it goes. (tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The cabinet was sworn in and started working<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":90176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[32992,29286,31840,31837,29268],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-90455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-cabinet","tag-government","tag-majority","tag-opposition","tag-parliament"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n