February 28, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 28.02.2025, 19:40
Motion. The Romanian Parliament on Friday rejected a no-confidence motion filed by the populist and ultranationalist parties the Alliance for the Union of Romania, S.O.S. Romania and Young People’s Party against the coalition government formed by the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania led by the Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu. The motion gathered 147 yes votes and 1 no vote. In order to pass, it needed the votes of the majority of MPs, namely 233. Prime minister Ciolacu said through their move, the initiators of the motion are seeking to create chaos, while the Romanian people are waiting for accountability and responsibility from the authorities. The signatories of the motion, on the other hand, launched a series of accusations against the prime minister, including failure to comply with the governing programme and his handling of last year’s elections. Under the Constitution, once a no-confidence motion has been rejected, the MPs that signed it can no longer file a new one over the course of the parliamentary session in question.
Dismissal. The Romanian Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, joined in plenary session on Friday decided to dismiss the president of the Permanent Electoral Authority, Toni Greblă. 267 parliamentarians voted in favour, 56 voted against, and 71 abstained. The legal committees of the two chambers had previously reported on the adoption of the request regarding Greblă’s dismissal. According to the request, “Mr. Toni Greblă, in March 2023, two days after being appointed to this position, established his monthly allowance in violation of the law, by referring to the level of the minimum gross salary in payment on the date of appointment (3,000 lei, equivalent to approximately 600 euros), although the allowances were frozen at the amount of 2,080 lei, the value of the amounts improperly collected for the years 2023 – 2024 being ascertained and established by audit of the Court of Accounts of Romania”. In 2024, despite a contract for the headquarters of the Central Electoral Bureau, Greblă moved the headquarters to another location, by concluding a new contract, further burdening the budget of the Permanent Electoral Authority and, implicitly, the state budget. The deputy president of the Permanent Electoral Authority Zsombor Vajda has taken over as interim.
NATO. “We are convinced that NATO will remain an important protection shield not only in Europe, but also in other parts of the world, and that the United States guarantees this stability ”, said Romania’s acting president Ilie Bolojan on Friday. In his first press briefing since taking over, he called for a boost in defence spending from allied states. “The question has rightly been raised about the fact that the contribution of some states, mainly from Europe, is too small compared with the advantages, the protection they enjoy”, Bolojan said. He said European states should increase their contribution for “this part of the world to remain stable and achieve greater responsibility in this regard”.
Prosecution. Prosecutors with the General Prosecutor’s Office are requesting the preventive arrest of mercenary Horaţiu Potra, a close associate of the former independent presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, as well as of Potra’s son and brother. 18 people accused in the same case have already been detained. Potra left the country before searches were conducted, with prosecutors finding dozens of lethal weapons, gun loaders, grenades, launchers and machine guns at his and his relatives’ properties. Large sums of money, 3,300,000 dollars and 700,000 lei, as well as 24 kilograms of gold, were also discovered. Potra is accused of attempting to act against the constitutional order, public incitement and operations with pyrotechnic devises carried out without permission. Călin Georgescu, who was placed under judicial control by prosecutors from the General Prosecutor’s Office, is also accused of instigating actions against the constitutional order. Other charges brought against Georgescu include communicating false information, making false statements in aggravated form, initiating and establishing an organization with a fascist, racist and xenophobic character, joining or supporting, in any form, such a group and promoting, in public, the cult of persons guilty of committing crimes of genocide against humanity and war crimes, initiating or establishing an organization with an anti-Semitic character. Calin Georgescu challenged the judicial control in court.
Rugby. On Sunday, March 2, the Romanian national team will meet Georgia away from home in the semi-finals of the 2025 Rugby Europe Championship. Both teams have already qualified for the 2027 Rugby World Cup hosted by Australia, following the group matches. The other semi-final of the competition will pit Portugal against Spain on Saturday. In the matches for the 5th-8th places, The Netherlands will face Germany, and Belgium will take on Switzerland. The finals and ranking matches will take place between March 14-16.
