A new Government, a new programme

The swearing in of a new Government seems to have put an end to unprecedented political tensions in Romania

Bogdan Matei, 30.06.2017, 13:26

The political formula on the basis of which the new Tudose Cabinet has been formed by the ruling coalition in Romania, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, is the same as the previous one. Also, 16 members of the former cabinet headed by Sorin Grindeanu, sacked last week under a no-confidence motion filed by his very own party, are also members of the current government. Grindeanu lost the office following accusations that he failed to implement the governing programme with which the Social Democratic Party won parliament election in December 2016 with 45% of the votes.

Tudoses cabinet has been endorsed by only 275 MPs, by 20 votes less than the Grindeanu team, which could be read as a sign that not only the winners euphoria six months ago started to wear out, but also the cohesion of the parliamentary majority. The Prime Minister himself has stated that Romania does not need a relaxed government, but one that needs to keep alert at all times. He has assured parliamentarians that his objective is to make up for the delays in implementing the governing programme.

Mihai Tudose: “I do not want to criticize what was before, but I understand there were some brakes involved. I was told to turn these brakes into a gas pedal, and that is what I am going to do.”

The iron-fist of the governing coalition, the leader of the Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea, has too stated that the programme must be observed, no matter the political costs entailed, and that is why Grindeanu had to go:

“There were mistakes in the governing process, but we have the strength to admit that. We will be more careful and we will make sure that the deadlines in the governing programme are observed.”

The problem, however, as pundits have pointed out, is that the programme of the newly instated team is significantly different from the one that Grindeanu was supposed to implement. Several measures concerning pay rises in the public sector have been postponed and the introduction of new taxes and fees is also envisaged. The junior partner in the coalition, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, has announced through its spokesperson Varujan Vosganian that their support to the prime-minister is conditional.

Varujan Vosganian: “If there are talks on redefining the flat tax by means of quotas re-designed below the existing ones, than we are willing to talk, but any changes in this flat tax translated into increasing the taxation level, no matter how we may call such a deviation, then the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats will not be a party to this.”

Also conditional was the vote of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, as its leader Kelemen Hunor has pointed out:

“This vote is not a blank cheque. We will not support the idea of a tax on turnover and we should also be explained what this solidarity tax is meant to stand for. The global income tax is not something to change the situation for the better either. “

The right-wing opposition was quick to react sarcastically to the current situation. The MPs members of the Peoples Movement Party attended neither the plenary session, nor the voting, and the National Liberal Party voted against the new government and criticized the changes brought to the governing programme. Here is the Liberal MP Ben Oni Ardelean:

“The National Liberal Party believes that proceeding like this, you are going to destroy the country. What you are doing now is throw away all Romanias chances.”

On behalf of his party, the Save Romania Union, MP Cristian Seidler was also categorical:

“Mr. Mihai Tudose, you and your colleagues in the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats have lost any legitimacy to rule this country.”

Just like a tough principal facing a class of problematic students, president Klaus Iohannis has been extremely critical of the new ministers. “The country is facing a crisis because you were not able to govern it” the president said, blaming the government for changing sensitive elements of the governing program.

He also called on the new ministers to put an end to what he described as a fiscal-budgetary hop-on, hop-off, as some ministers of the new cabinet have already started to raise controversy. Even before he was sworn in, the Finance Minister Ionut Misa announced the dissolution of the so-called 2nd pillar of the private pension fund. Soon after, though, the Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea termed the announcement as non-sense and Minister Misa took back what he had said earlier. However, the statements have already had a huge impact, causing trouble in the stock and forex markets.