Romania’s ruling coalition survives first internal crisis

The small crisis triggered by dismissal of the health minister ends without major political implications.

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Eugen Coroianu, 21.04.2021, 14:00

The centre-right coalition formed by
the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and PLUS Alliance and the
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania stays together as the leaders of
these parties come to an agreement. The first crisis of trust faced by Romania’s
ruling coalition ended after several days of mutual accusations as well as
talks, with contested Liberal prime minister Florin Cîțu retaining his
position.

The conflict started from Cîțu’s
disagreements with health minister Vlad Voiculescu, whom he sacked overnight, without
consulting the coalition partners, the Save Romania Union and PLUS Alliance
whose member Voiculescu was. In response, the latter party asked for Cîțu to
step down as a condition to stay in the coalition, which gave rise to various scenarios
that themselves unearthed old conflicts.

Things only calmed down on Tuesday
night when the coalition leaders signed an update to the coalition agreement aimed
to boost trust among partners and improve the performance of the government,
as the Liberal leader Ludovic Orban put it after six hours of negotiations. The
co-president of the Save Romania Union and PLUS Alliance Dan Barna said a
sensitive situation was thus overcome and that the survival and success of the
coalition depend on trust, respect and rules. This coalition does not have an
alternative, chimed in the leader of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in
Romania, Kelemen Hunor, saying the new rules will ensure a more coherent
approach, both at government level and in Parliament. Prime minister Florin
Cîţu said future decisions will be based on dialogue and what’s best for
citizens and that the priority right now is the Covid vaccination campaign.

As regards the update to the
coalition agreement, Agerpres news agency says it stipulates that the head of
the government can dismiss a minister after first informing his or her party of
this intention and after discussions within the coalition. The prime minister is
also to allow for a reasonable period of transition to take place before the
new minister takes over. Under the updated protocol, political responsibility
will be shared and major decisions will be made in a collegial spirit with the agreement
of all coalition members. The ministers’ performance will be assessed regularly,
based on the government programme voted by Parliament and other subsequent decisions.

The Covid vaccination is a priority
for the coalition, the protocol also reads. Transparency is a rule, not an
exception, and the ministers must take steps to improve access to public data
and ensure the transparency of budget spending and public contracts and purchases.
Healthcare reforms will continue and reforming special pensions based on the
contribution principle and passing the laws regulating the activity of the judiciary
are to be achieved by the end of the year, the agreement that ended the ruling
coalition’s first crisis also reads. (CM)