Romania's PM Florin Cîţu was elected president of the National Liberal Party, but his Cabinet is in a difficult position
As of Saturday, PM Florin Cîţu is the president of the National Liberal Party, the leader of the ruling coalition in Bucharest, after defeating his former party chief Ludovic Orban. The two spared no efforts during the battle for supremacy, and commentators agree that the competition degenerated, severely damaging the party image and, more importantly, virtually obstructing the work of the government.
This comes at a time when Romania is faced with yet another shortage of intensive care beds for severe COVID cases, and with a dramatic increase in energy prices. The Liberals' new president, Florin Cîţu, sees his election as the starting point of a trend that will change the country.
Florin Cîţu: "I promise to be the president of all Liberals, regardless of your vote. We are a united party and will use all our resources against our political opponent, the Social Democratic Party. You should know that this was not just a campaign, it was a movement, started within the National Liberal Party, a movement that will change Romania for the better."
While for 60% of the participants in the Liberals' congress Florin Cîţu is the solution, for their former partners in the ruling coalition, USR PLUS, he is the problem. USR PLUS left the right-of-centre coalition after the justice minister Stelian Ion was dismissed out of the blue, and said they would not return in the government unless Florin Cîţu gives up the PM post.
Without USR PLUS, Cîţu's Cabinet has no parliamentary majority to back it, and risks being dismissed if the no-confidence motion tabled by USR PLUS and the nationalist party AUR is validated by the Constitutional Court and passed in Parliament. This is precisely why the new Liberal leader announced negotiations with all political parties, to put together a parliamentary majority to support his cabinet.
The Social Democrats in opposition seem to want Cîţu dismissed as well. They say the days of the current government are numbered and that, in case the USR PLUS - AUR motion fails, they have drafted their own no-confidence motion. The Social Democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu had this to say:
Marcel Ciolacu: "Definitely, as soon as the Constitutional Court greenlights the motion, the Social Democratic Party will vote in its favour. If the Court dismisses the motion, we will immediately table our own motion against the government and will invite the other parties to back it."
A minority government is not a novelty in Romania. A government made up of the Liberals and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, unofficially backed by the Social Democrats, and headed by Călin Popescu Tăriceanu, was in power between 2007 and the elections of 2008. The price was high, however: the government had to give up all major reform projects and to adopt populist measures, lacking financial support.
The same threatens to be the case at present as well, although Florin Cîţu promised adamantly to put an end to irresponsible public spending and to streamline public administration. (tr. A.M. Popescu)
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