The Liberals seek no-confidence vote against the Government

The National Liberal Party plans to bring down the government through a no-confidence motion.

Roxana Vasile, 15.11.2017, 13:30

The National
Liberal Party in opposition is determined to bring down the government made up
of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in
Romania.

Their latest
reason for discontent is the recently adopted government decree modifying the
Fiscal Code, which stipulates, among other things, the switch of the
responsibility for paying social security contributions from employers to
employees, as well as a reduction in income tax from 16 to 10%. Opposed by
trade unions, employer associations and some sections of civil society, the
measures have also been severely criticised by the right-of-centre opposition
parties, starting with the Liberals.

The move to seek
a no-confidence vote against the government already has the support of the Save
Romania Union, and the two parties announced they would table the no-confidence
motion together. The Liberals have also discussed the move with the Democratic
Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, and so far they have reasons for
optimism, the head of the Liberal’s parliamentary group in the Chamber of
Deputies Raluca Turcan says:

We’ve had talks
with the Save Romania Union, and they firmly committed themselves to backing
this motion. We’ve also had talks on very practical aspects with the Democratic
Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, and it was a major satisfaction to be
able to have this thorough discussion on elements related to how the country is
governed. This is a positive thing, for our future parliamentary activity as
well. I am confident that what is going on today with the government and inside
the Social Democratic Party will persuade a growing number of MPs to see this
no-confidence motion differently.

The People’s
Movement Party, founded by Romania’s former right-wing president Traian
Basescu, also announced they would support the motion against Mihai Tudose’s
cabinet. They believe, however, that the National Liberal Party should also
come up with an alternative for the prime minister post. The lack of
alternatives and of counter-measures on the part of the Liberals was also
mentioned by Victor Ponta, a former Social Democrat who currently heads a group
of non-affiliated MPs from the Pro Romania party:

We will not
support this motion, and I really can’t see why they are filing it. We’ve a
change of cabinet, and what was the use of it? We got the same thing. Let’s say
another cabinet will be replaced. What is the Liberals’ solution? They are only
doing this for the sake of doing it, but nothing will actually change.

For the motion
to pass, the Liberals need to convince as many MPs as possible, including from
the parties in power, to back it, which is why, apart from the negotiations
with the opposition parties, each Liberal MP will try to get one vote from a
member of the ruling coalition group. Outside Parliament, the National Liberal
Party intends to run nation-wide citizen information campaigns and to organise
rallies in Bucharest and other cities. It also requested the Ombudsman to
challenge the fiscal reform initiated by the Government in the Constitutional
Court.