Radio România Internațional

Tag: motion of no confidence

  • Motion of no confidence in Government

    Motion of no confidence in Government

    Six months after its inauguration, the Florin Cîțu Government faces the first motion of no confidence filed by the main opposition party in Romania. The Social Democrats accuse the government of implementing measures that have led to the impoverishment of the population and a free fall of the economy. They recall the freezing of pensions, salaries and child allowances and criticize the way in which the executive drafted the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, under which, they say, the population will pay more to benefit from European funds. The Social Democratic Party also accuses the lack of effective measures for the economic, health-care and education sectors.

    Senator Lucian Romaşcanu: The PNL-USR-UDMR government is leading the Romanian economy into the abyss at an astonishing speed. Romania lives from one day to the next on massive loans taken 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 are very expensive. The euro-leu exchange rate has reached 5 lei, and the liter of gasoline exceeded 6 lei. Only fantastic things happening!

    The Social Democrats say that many stakeholders contributed to the text of the motion, including trade unions, SMEs and employers’ associations. The document was read on Wednesday in Parliament plenary session, and the debate and the vote are scheduled for next week, when the two chambers will convene again. The leadership of the Social Democratic Party considers that the move has chances of success and says that, currently, they are negotiating with parliamentarians from other parties to support the motion. In response to the statements made by the Social Democrat leader Marcel Ciolacu, according to which negotiations are underway, including with several parliamentarians from the governing coalition, the USR-PLUS co-president Dan Barna says that no senator or deputy of his party will support the motion.

    Dan Barna: We have not been contacted and I doubt that Mr. Ciolacu has any hope, other than as a joke, that any USR-PLUS parliamentarian would support this motion that they have announced. This is the role of the PSD, to remain in opposition , always ready, and I agree with this line.

    The Liberal leader Ludovic Orban too has stated that he does not believe that MPs from the governing parties will support the Social Democrats.The National Liberal Party has mobilized its parliamentarians to be present when the motion is voted, but they will not exercise their right to vote, and the Liberal Prime Minister Florin Cîţu says he is not worried at all, because the motion stands no chances of passing. (MI)

  • October 10, 2019

    October 10, 2019

    Motion — The Romanian Parliament on Thursday voted the motion of no confidence tabled by the Liberal opposition against the minority Social Democratic government headed by Viorica Dancila. 238 senators and deputies voted for the motion and 6 against it. Initiated by the Liberal Party and entitled ‘To build Romania, the Dancila government has to be urgently dismissed!’ the motion had been signed by senators and deputies from the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union, the People’s Movement Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Pro Romania and ALDE, 2 MPs of the minorities group, an independent and even 4 PSD MPs. They label the government as the most harmful government of the past 30 years and claim that after ousting it, they will pass a responsible governing program targeting the country’s development and modernization and the prosperity of each and every Romanian citizen. In reply, the prime minister and the other PSD leaders accuse the opposition of not being able to provide alternative solutions.



    Statistics — The National Institute of Statistics has revised slightly downwards from 4.6% to 4.5% the estimates regarding the growth of the country’s GDP in the 2nd half of 2019 as compared to the same period of last year. In another development, the World Bank has slightly improved estimates reading Romania’s economic evolution for the coming years but draws attention to the risk of a rise in pay inequities. The WB recommends the government to include on its priorities agenda measures aimed at curbing the high unemployment rate among young people and people with low qualification and at making reforms in the public administration and the state-owned companies.



    Holocaust – Romania has made an important step forward by setting up the National Museum of the Jews and the Holocaust, said Thursday the US ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm. The museum will be a symbol of Romania’s continuous development as a nation and a democratic society, a symbol which all Romanian citizens can be proud of, the American diplomat added. He deplored, however, the fact that, despite this historic achievement, the anti-Semitic and anti-Roma rhetoric continues to be present in the political discourse and some of Romania’s towns and villages still commemorate anti-Semitic and Fascist historical personalities. Ambassador Hans Klemm reminded that the Jews’ sacred places are being periodically vandalized. In his opinion, anti-Semitism is not specific to Romania alone. On Tuesday President Klaus Iohannis promulgated the law that establishes in Bucharest the National History Museum of the Jews and the Holocaust in Romania.



    Football – Romania’s under 21 national team are playing today on home ground in Ploiesti, southern Romania, against the Ukrainian eleven in a Group 8 match of the Euro 2021 preliminaries. On Monday the Romanian team will take on the team of Northern Ireland also on home turf. In their debut match, last month, the Romanians were defeated 1-2 away from home by the Danish team. Group 8 also includes Finland and Malta, and the first two top-ranking teams will qualify to the next stage. In June, Romania’s Under-21 team qualified, for the first time, to the semifinals of the European final tournament from Italy and San Marino, and has thus got the ticket for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. Romania’s senior football team will play Saturday against the Faeroe Islands away from home while Tuesday they will take on the Norwegian eleven at home in Group F of the 2020 European Championships preliminaries. The drawing of lots for the Euro 2020 will take place in Bucharest on November 30. Romania’s capital will also host 4 matches of the final tournament, three in the group stage and one in the round of 16.



    Syria offensive — The U.N. Security Council is meeting today upon the request of Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Poland, to discuss Turkey’s military offensive in northeastern Syria against the Kurdish forces. On Wednesday, Turkey informed the Security Council that the operation would be ‘proportionate, measured and responsible, and would only target terrorists and their hideouts, shelters, emplacements, weapons, vehicles and equipment.’ The EU, NATO and the UN have reacted to the military offensive Turkey launched shortly after the American troops pulled out from the region. The president of the EC has called for reticence and the cessation of military operations, warning that, if Turkey’s plan was to create a safe area, it would not benefit from any European funding. In turn NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ankara’s military offensive should be ‘proportionate and measured.’ (translation by L. Simion)

  • September 29, 2019

    September 29, 2019

    Europalia – The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will participate on Tuesday, October 1, in Brussels, in the official opening of the Europalia Romania 2019 International Arts Festival. During the visit, the Romanian official will meet with the Belgian King Philippe. The two officials will visit the exhibition ‘Brancusi- Sublimation of Form’, the most important event devoted to the Romanian sculptor organized in the past decades and will attend the concert ‘Romanian Rhapsody’ given by the RaRo-SoNoRo ensemble. The Europalia Romania 2019 is held from October 2019 until February 2020 and includes various events from the field of visual arts, performing arts, music, film, literature and cultural education, which will be hosted by Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and Great Britain. Romania will present over 250 events in the 27th edition of Europalia Arts Festival. The festival is one of the most important arts festivals of the world, this year’s edition marking the festival’s 50th year of existence. Romania previously participated in the 2007 edition of the festival.



    Motion – The president of the opposition Liberal Party Ludovic Orban announced that the motion of no confidence against the Social Democratic government will be submitted in Parliament in the coming days. With 237 signatures, the Liberals have gathered more than the number of votes necessary for ousting the Dancila cabinet, Ludovic Orban said. He added that this was indicative of the clear majority formed in Parliament which wants the government to be dismissed. The speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu expressed doubts over the opposition’s success in toppling the government and accused the Liberals of failing to come up with a governing program and a proposal for prime minister.



    Funeral — As many as 30 heads of state and government announced their presence in Paris on Monday to pay their last respects to the former French president Jacques Chirac who died on Thursday at 86, shows a communiqué of the French presidency. The French Embassy in Romania opened an online book of condolence on its website for those who want to pay homage to the former French president. Monday was declared a day of mourning in France and the flags of the French Embassy in Bucharest will be lowered at half mast.



    Handball – Romania’s national women’s handball team are taking on, away from home, the team of the Faeroe Islands in a match in Group 7 of the preliminaries of the 2020 European Championship. On Wednesday evening, in their debut match, the Romanian handballers defeated, on home ground in Brasov (central Romania), 27-24 the Ukrainian team. The group also includes Poland. The two 1st ranked teams will qualify to the final tournament. In the 2018 edition of the championship, Romania’s handball team was ranked 4th, failing to get the bronze, won by the Netherlands.



    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep (WTA 6) has today qualified to the second round of the WTA tournament in Beijing which has total prizes up for grabs worth a total of 8 million 3 hundred thousand dollars. She defeated the Swedish player Rebecca Peterson, cu 6-1, 6-1. Halep played in the 2017 final when she was defeated by Caroline Garcia of France. However, Halep’s victory in the semifinals against Jelena Ostapenko pushed her on top position of the WTA ranking for the first time. In the doubles, the Romanian player Monica Niculescu will pair up with American Vania King to play against the pair Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia)/Daiana Iastremska (Ukraine). Another Romanian player Raluca Olaru will pair up with American Alison Riske and will be up against the American pair Sofia Kenin/Bethanie Mattek-Sands. (translation by L. Simion)

  • The government faces motion of no-confidence

    The government faces motion of no-confidence

    On Wednesday, the motion of no-confidence
    tabled by the Liberal opposition was read before the two chambers of
    Parliament. Its initiators took the opportunity to reiterate their claim that
    given the charges brought by anti-corruption prosecutors against prime minister
    Victor Ponta, namely forgery and accessory to tax evasion and money laundering,
    Victor Ponta should no longer have the authority to sign bills and approve the
    state budget.




    According to the leader of the Liberal group
    Eugen Nicolaescu, in any other EU country, a prime minister in Victor Ponta’s
    situation would have already resigned. He recalled that his party had been
    asking for Mr Ponta’s resignation since June 5th when the National
    Anti-Corruption Directorate made public its accusations against him. Also on
    Wednesday, before leaving for Brussels, president Klaus Iohannis said it would
    be a good thing if the adoption passed.




    Just like Dan Sova, a former university
    colleague and later business partner of Victor Ponta and who worked under him
    in the party and in the cabinet, Mr Ponta is accused of involvement in illegal
    actions at the Rovinari and Turceni energy companies that caused the state more
    than 16 million euros in losses.




    Convinced that the gravity of the charges
    brought against the prime minister should prevail over any political loyalty,
    the Liberals called on the parties in the government coalition to vote in
    favour of the motion on September 29th. In order to be passed by
    Parliament, the motion needs a majority of 276 yes votes. However, by the time
    it was submitted, the motion had only been endorsed by 180 MPs, mostly from the
    National Liberal Party. Kelemen Hunor, the leader of the second largest party
    in opposition, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, said most
    of his MPs would vote in favour of the motion. For the motion to pass, however,
    more votes are needed from the parties in the ruling coalition, which won’t be
    easy.




    The interim president of the Social Democratic
    Party, Liviu Dragnea, says the party will support its former leader whose prime
    ministerial performance they see as a success. The party’s spokeswoman,
    Gabriela Firea, says the situation of prime minister Ponta has not changed,
    because he remains innocent until the court gives its final verdict. The junior
    partners of the Social Democrats said they would support the coalition. Led by
    the deputy prime minister and interior minister Gabriel Oprea, the National
    Union for the Progress of Romania announced they would vote against the motion,
    while the leader of the Liberals’ and Democrats’ Alliance and Senate speaker
    Calin Popescu Tariceanu believes that Ponta’s case is an example of how the
    judiciary can be used as a political weapon to help a group take over power
    by eliminating its rivals.




    Even commentators believe the motion has slim
    chances to pass, while noting that Romania’s image is greatly affected by the
    fact that its prime minister is facing corruption charges.

  • Romania after Friday’s no-confidence motion

    Romania after Friday’s no-confidence motion

    As expected, last Fridays motion of no-confidence filed by the Liberals against Victor Pontas cabinet did not pass, adding to the other two failed attempts to remove the ruling coalition from power. The opposition has proved that it still lacks majority in Parliament and the Government must continue its activity, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said shortly after the vote. The Prime Minister recalled that Parliament is already working on new bills on legislative elections and postal voting and expressed once again regret concerning the unfortunate events of November last year, when thousands of Romanians could not cast their votes in the presidential elections. Victor Ponta:



    “I believe the only important thing right now is to take the right actions so that future elections should be held in appropriate circumstances. We have supported and will continue to support the idea that the Permanent Election Authority should be responsible for organizing the elections, both at home and abroad, so as to rule out any political disputes in this respect.



    The Liberals on the other hand say Fridays vote reflects a lack of respect for the people and that they will file a new motion of no-confidence this autumn. The Liberals are calling on the Prime Minister to step down, given that his legitimacy is being called into question. Here is Liberal co-president Alina Gorghiu.



    “Victor Ponta has lost his nationwide legitimacy because he is setting Romanians against each other, and, unfortunately for all of us, he also lost his moral legitimacy, because he was invested by a majority different than the current one. I never thought a young man could go as far as depriving Romanians of their right to vote.



    Despites Fridays positive outcome, Victor Pontas problems are far from being over. He continues to be investigated in a criminal case where he is accused of forgery of documents under private signature, accessory to recurrent tax evasion and money laundering, which he committed during his tenure as a lawyer. Additionally, Gabriel Oprea, Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the National Union for the Progress of Romania has warned that his party might step down. Parliament this week is due to discuss 22 amendment propositions for the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes.



    Some of them are highly controversial, such as the pre-trial arrest based on true and just cause, which goes against the reasonable doubt motivation used so far, but also the elimination of the provision dictating that suspects placed on pre-trial arrest for non-violent deeds need to be handcuffed. Gabriel Oprea says the National Union for the Progress of Romania supports the consolidation of the judiciary and the rule of law and cannot condone any attempt to undermine these two pillars of democracy.

  • Motion of censure against the government

    Motion of censure against the government

    Two years after coming to power, the country’s Social Democratic Prime Minister Victor Ponta will face on Monday the first motion of censure against his cabinet. The initiators of the motion are the Liberals, who, surprisingly enough, were Ponta’s partners in the ruling coalition until two months ago.



    Joining forces as part of the Social-Liberal Union and winning the 2012 parliamentary elections with nearly 70% of the votes, the Social Democrats and the Liberals also formed the government together, in a common effort to address what they called the abuse of the previous Liberal Democratic cabinets guided by president Traian Basescu. Those days are now gone, and the Liberals now joint forces with the Liberal Democrats, the representatives of the pro-presidential People’s Movement, as well as the populist Party of the People for their last motion of censure against the Social Democratic government.



    In the text of the motion, the Liberal Party accuses the government of failing to keep its promise as regards tax exemptions for reinvested profits, a 5% reduction in social security contributions, endorsing legislation to regulate first-time land registry entries for farmland and forests and amending the Fiscal Code and the new Forestry Code. The initiators of the motion also accuse the Prime Minister of trying to control the judiciary. In response, the minister delegate for budget Liviu Voinea has recently announced that the 5% reduction in social security contributions will take effect on July 1st.



    Analysts expect the Ponta cabinet will have no problems passing this test in Parliament. In order to be passed, the motion needs at least 286 votes, and the Liberals, the Liberal Democrats and the Party of the People only have 218 MEPs in total. The Liberal leader Crin Antonescu is himself sceptical about the chances for the motion to pass, but says the debates will at least give rise to a thorough analysis of the government’s work.



    The motion will be discussed in Parliament one day after the European Parliament elections, in which, according to opinion polls, the candidates of the left, mostly from the Social Democratic Party, will get more votes than all the opposition parties together.