Motion of no-confidence in the Cîţu Government

The centre-right governing coalition in Bucharest is faced with a no-confidence motion, filed by the main opposition party

Corina Cristea, 29.06.2021, 14:00

Read last week in plenary session of Parliament, the first motion of no-confidence filed against the Cîțu Government is debated and voted today by Romanias legislature. Its initiators, the Social Democrats, say they have negotiated with deputies and senators from all political parties and that many are dissatisfied, which makes them confident that the motion has a chance to pass, although, according to parliamentary mathematics, it doesnt look like this would tip the scales to the detriment of the governing coalition.

The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) has already announced that it has decided to support the Social Democrats approach, even if the party is dissatisfied with the fact that the proposals it formulated were not introduced in the text of the censure motion. “We are not voting for the motion, we are voting for the removal of the Cîţu government”, George Simion, the AUR co-president has stated. In order for the motion to pass and the Government to leave, 234 parliamentarians should vote in favour. The Social Democratic Party, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians and the independent MPs together have only 205 votes. Directly targeted by the motion of no-confidence, the Liberal Prime Minister Florin Cîţu announced last Monday that the ruling coalitions decision was to have all its MPs present, but not to vote.

The accusations made the Social Democrats against the Cîțu Cabinet regard measures taken by the Executive in key areas of activity – pensions, health, education and agriculture, but also the way in which the National Recovery and Resilience Plan was drawn up. In the opinion of PSD, the current government is leading the Romanian economy into the abyss, at an astonishing speed. The Social Democrats say that while for most Romanians the purchasing power is declining every second, political friends and party companies enjoy huge profits.

Romania can barely make ends meet, living on money borrowed at astronomical interest rates. Prices have exploded, Romanians pockets have emptied. Invoices have doubled, staple food has become a luxury, essential medicines are either not available or very expensive. The euro / leu exchange rate reached 5 lei, and a liter of gasoline costs more than 6 lei. Public debt beats record after record, and no one remembers the 3% deficit target any more! However, allowances, salaries and pensions are frozen and entrepreneurs complain that the state does not pay for their work!”, the Social Democratic Party states in the motion.

The main opposition party criticises the governance model of the current governing coalition also because they say, the government is helping other states instead of helping Romania, given that 1,500 euros per minute is added to the countrys trade deficit from the fact that imports are higher than exports.

“I consider that the main enemy of Romanias development is the former communist party, which has had all kinds of avatars, be they called the National Salvation Front, the Democratic National Salvation Front, The Party of Social Democracy or the Social Democratic Party”, the leader of the Liberal Party, Ludovic Orban, said in reply. (MI)