Radio România Internațional

Tag: political deadlock

  • The Constitutional Court postpones a decision on the political deadlock

    The Constitutional Court postpones a decision on the political deadlock

    Frequently criticized and despised by many,
    the Constitutional Court remains the unquestionable arbiter of Romanian
    politics, and its rulings are unappealable. Therefore, it is still uncertain
    what will happen with the Liberal Cabinet, after the Court announced it would
    issue a ruling on September 28 regarding the alleged institutional conflict
    invoked by Liberal Prime Minister Florin Cîţu
    in connection with Parliament concerning the no-confidence motion filed by AUR,
    an ultranationalist party in the opposition, and the USR-PLUS alliance, at the
    time still a junior coalition partner. Prior to this date, the debate and vote
    of the motion are in standby, according to a Parliament majority decision. The permanent
    bureaus of the two chambers have sided with the Government regarding the notification
    the Prime Minister has sent to the Court and in which he claims the motion did
    not observe the law in terms of collecting signatures, and Parliament was
    notified late regarding this document.

    After the motion was blocked, AUR MPs
    announced a parliamentary strike. They will continue to attend Parliament sittings,
    although they will not be voting any of the initiatives. In turn, USR-PLUS has
    again criticized the Prime Minister, as well as the person who they believe is
    protecting him, president Klaus Iohannis. All USR-PLUS ministers have resigned,
    and Florin Cîţu sacked all state secretaries, prefects and deputy prefects from
    this party, claiming USR-PLUS may still return to the ruling coalition. One
    condition, however, is for them to drop the no-confidence motion filed jointly
    with AUR, a party the Liberals consider to be extremist. In response, USR-PLUS
    said they will only accept a Government where Cîţu is not Prime Minister.

    As
    regards the political deadlock, triggered since USR-PLUS ministers stepped down,
    the Cabinet passed an emergency decree approving the Anghel Saligny National
    Investment Programme, which the Prime Minister describes as an absolute
    necessity, which will help fund road pavement projects, sewage and gas pipeline
    works in those towns and villages where living standards are low. USR-PLUS, in
    turn, claims the project resembles the former national development projects initiated
    by the former Social-Democratic governments, representing a source of money that
    can be directed based on political criteria, without any transparency. USR-PLUS
    also accuses the Liberals of having trampled the judiciary and opened up
    vistas for embezzling money.

    In the meantime, surveys show that three quarters
    of Romanians believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Most
    respondents are oblivious to the current political shenanigans, but are
    disgruntled with the recent price hikes and the constant devaluation of the
    national currency. (VP)



  • The Republic of Moldova in a Political Deadlock

    The Republic of Moldova in a Political Deadlock

    Moldovan police have announced theyve discovered a paramilitary group that was planning attacks on state institutions and insurrectional scenarios similar to those in neighboring Ukraine. Searches and arrests have been conducted in the north of the republic, but also in the capital Chisinau. The head of the criminal group and its members, some of them born in the pro-Russian eastern part of Ukraine, are people with a criminal record. It could be a scenario masterminded by the Russian Federation, aimed at destabilizing the Republic of Moldova, the Moldovan political analyst Oazu Nantoi has said. Violent incidents would be additional arguments for the pro-Moscow opposition, which keeps announcing the failure of the current governing formula and calls for the ousting of all pro-Western officials.



    President Nicolae Timofti has called parliamentary parties to consultations on Friday, with a view to designating a new candidate for the office of Prime Minister, but nobody seems optimistic about the republics European aspirations. Part of the former governing coalition, alongside the Liberals and the Liberal-Democrats, the Democrats have for some time now been negotiating with the Socialists and Communists in the opposition. The leader of the latter, the former president of Moldova Vladimir Voronin, pleads for a left-wing governing coalition, comprising the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Democratic Party. The Socialist chief, Igor Dodon, however, calls for early elections, which he is convinced his party would win without any problems.



    Early elections will be held unless a new cabinet is appointed by the end of the year. The current matters are being managed by an interim government, following the ousting on October 29th of the former Liberal-Democrat Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet, under a no-confidence motion filed by Socialists and Communists and endorsed by the Democratic MPs. To Moldovas Western partners, the current political deadlock is almost unreal, given that last year the Republic of Moldova signed Association and Free-Trade agreements with Brussels and announced its potential accession to the EU in 2020.



    ‘Sit at the negotiations table without imposing any conditions, Elmar Brok, the Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, urged the leaders of the parties that have declared themselves ‘pro-Western. The political situation is disappointing and the governing parties have shown nothing but lack of professionalism and cowardice, wasting peoples trust, other members of the European Parliament have said. Romanian MEP Cristian Preda, a specialist in political sciences, believes that there are three main reasons why the political crisis in the Republic of Moldova has become so acute: Russias influence on the public opinion, the oligarchs uncontrollable power and corruption, which has rendered state institutions extremely vulnerable.

    (Translation by M. Ignatescu)