Romania’s ruling coalition overthrows dissident PM

Romania’s ruling coalition overthrows dissident PM
Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said PSD leader Liviu Dragnea had expressed trust in all the ministers until the very day he decided to replace the government. / PSD.
By Iulian Ernst in Bucharest June 21, 2017

Romania’s parliament has endorsed by 241 votes, compared to the 233 needed, a motion submitted by the ruling coalition against the government it appointed just four months earlier. 

The overthrow of Sorin Grindeanu – whose fate was sealed when he fell out last week with the powerful PSD chairman Liviu Dragnea, who covets the post of PM but cannot assume the post because of a suspended jail sentence for attempts to rig a 2012 referendum – is likely to cause further political stagnation until a replacement can be found. The political crisis has shown the coalition’s weak ruling capacity, putting a major question mark over its ability to perform in the coming three years and, in the short term, complicating the formation of a new government. 

There were 10 votes against the no-confidence motion, titled “Romania cannot be confiscated! We are defending democracy and Romanians’ votes!”, which was presented to the parliament on June 18, and reportedly backed by more than 200 MPs from the senior ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) and its coalition partner, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (Alde). 

The dissenting votes were most likely from MPs representing Romania’s national minorities. Other opposition MPs from the National Liberal Party (PNL), Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and Save Romania Union (USR) did not vote, and the UDMR was also absent from the debate. 

The vote was secret (using black and white balls), but the ruling parties asked their MPs to disclose their choice by showing the balls before placing them in the boxes, to make sure they followed the party line.

“[Passing the motion] means that the ruling coalition of the PSD-Alde coalition continues, in line with the vote of the Romanians last December,” PSD leader Dragnea told the parliament after the vote. 

“The government has not performed badly, rather well — but not well enough,” he added, explaining the reasons that made him replace Grindeanu.

In his turn, Grindeanu outlined the economic performance of his government, and stressed that the motion opens the door for political instability.

“I accepted the ministers proposed by Dragnea… and after six months I learn [from Dragnea] that they are good, but not good enough,” he told MPs. He also claimed that Dragnea had expressed trust in all the ministers until the very day he decided to replace the government.

Grindeanu went on to warn MPs that “no matter who takes my job, Dragnea will not let him or her exercise the office of prime minister”.

Dragnea's new proxy PM

With the vote out of the way, Dragnea is expected to appoint a low-profile candidate who would act as a de-facto interim prime minister until he removes the obstacles blocking his own path to the PM's seat. The names circulated recently are those of Labour Minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu and Interior Minister Carmen Dan, but on the day of the vote the name of Florin Georgescu — a former deputy central bank governor who is close to the PSD — was also mentioned. While politicians other than Vasilescu and Dan might be nominated, Georgescu remains a remote option because he is likely to object to the party's expansive fiscal plans.

Despite being the leader of the senior ruling party, Dragnea has so far been unable to take up the prime minister post himself since he has a suspended sentence for voter manipulation; no one with a criminal conviction is allowed to hold public office in Romania. Instead, he picked a substitute from within the party, with his second choice, Grindeanu, taking office earlier this year. However, relations between the two later soured dramatically. 

There are unconfirmed reports that Grindeanu was informed back in January that he was only to serve as prime minister for a short period of time but he refused to step down when asked to by the PSD’s leader. 

Dragnea will now be faced with finding a new proxy who is also acceptable to President Klaus Iohannis. The two have previously locked horns numerous times including over Dragnea’s original choice of prime minister and his attempt to weaken anti-corruption legislation.  

Speaking in Berlin on June 20, Iohannis stressed that he would not compromise on the strict integrity criteria he followed last winter when appointing the first prime minister after the December 2016 general election; he turned down the ruling coalition’s first nomination, Sevil Shhaideh. However, Iohannis is not expected to get involved in the process of nominating a prime minister to the extent of questioning the legitimacy of the current parliamentary majority. 

Changing the prime minister would allow the PSD’s leadership to stall for time. This would create space for lawmakers to remove the legal obstacles still preventing Dragnea from holding the PM seat. The PSD leader’s plans to push on with removing the obstacles separating him from the prime minister position may, however, further weaken the credibility of the PSD.

Despite strong opposition from Iohannis and anti-corruption campaigners in Romania, Dragnea has already made some progress towards his ambition. The Constitutional Court recently ruled that it is up to the parliament to clarify the situation concerning the law that currently bans Dragnea from holding a seat in government,  which opens the way for Dragnea to be amnestied  by the parliamentary majority. 

 

 

 

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