The faith of the Citu Cabinet to be decided this week
The chances for the Citu Cabinet to be endorsed are higher in the context of COVID-19 outbreak.
Roxana Vasile, 10.03.2020, 13:50
After winning the European and presidential election last year, the Romanian Liberals and the right-of-center President, Klaus Iohannis, have set as their main goal the organization, this year, of early parliamentary elections right after the local ones. This is the logic behind the ousting, last October, of the Social Democratic government and its replacement with a Liberal one. A no confidence vote initiated by the Social Democrats followed in February, and ended in the ousting of the Liberal Government headed by Ludovic Orban.
The Head of State, Klaus Iohannis, nominated again Ludovic Orban as Prime Minister, but the new cabinet was not endorsed by Parliament due to the lack of quorum. Moreover, Orban resigned his position as PM designate. It is now Liberal Florin Citu’s turn, an interim Finance Minister at the moment, to appear in Parliament on Thursday afternoon to ask for a vote of confidence for his cabinet. If the Liberals have considered not voting for their own cabinet in order to trigger early elections, the coronavirus outbreak might have changed their plan. Romania needs a stable Government, with full powers, able to deal with a possible epidemic.
Against this background, the Social Democratic Party has expressed its concern as regards the coronavirus crisis, but, as a party in the opposition, it will stick to its plan to reject the Citu cabinet, if the current government structure is maintained. The Social Democrats are asking for the Liberals to replace 7 of their 16 ministers proposed in the new cabinet, who have been rejected by the expert committees. Thus, the Social Democrats say, it is the Liberals’ responsibility to create a Parliament majority. The Pro Romania Party has announced its intention to vote the Liberal Government and believes all other parties should do the same and abandon electoral strategies. Save Romania Union, the third largest party in Parliament, that was initially in favor of early elections, has urged all decision makers to act in a responsible manner.
(Translated by Elena Enache)
