Radio România Internațional

Tag: Prime Minister Mihai Tudose

  • Censure motion rejected

    Censure motion rejected


    Sworn in in late June, the coalition government led by the Social Democrat Mihai Tudose, on Thursday survived, without the slightest shred of emotion, the first censure motion filed by the right-wing opposition. Initiated by the National Liberal Party(PNL) and the Save Romania Union (USR) and backed by the Peoples Movement Party(PMP) and independent MPs, the text of the motion blames the Government for implementing measures that have led to a decrease in the Romanians living standard and disturbed the business environment.



    Far from the generous electoral program thanks to which, less than a year ago, the Social Democratic Party(PSD) led by Liviu Dragnea won the parliamentary elections, the policies pursued by the government have led to a decrease in salaries and in contributions to the second pillar of the pension fund, price hikes for food, fuels and electricity, chaos in the healthcare system, education, finances and infrastructure, the signatories say.



    Here is the USR senator Ramona Dinu: “The benefits of a substantial economic growth have been annulled by the populist and chaotic economic measures taken by the Dragnea -Tudose pair against the business environment and the honest tax payers in this country. Early next year, Romanians will see higher salaries only on paper, and will get to hold just a timetable of promises made by PSD in the campaign, thus realizing that Dragnea and his cronies cheated on them. They upset everyone relative to the amendments to the Fiscal Code, which were brought without clear explanations, without an impact study, no dialogue and no support from employers associations and trade unions. You have imposed this fiscal mess against all.”



    During plenary parliament sessions, the opposition has also accused the ruling coalition of systematically attacking the independence of the judiciary. In response, the PM claims that Romania is in a stable situation, has registered a 7% economic growth rate, pay rises in the budget sector and the business environment, and progress in healthcare and infrastructure.



    Prime Minister Mihai Tudose: “Dear colleagues, you have been struggling for a long time to instill fear in the population that salaries will decrease as of January 1st, and that the Apocalypse will come. Meanwhile, all people of good faith have seen that the news you and your associates have launched is actually fake. Salaries will by all means increase! The truth is simple: there are real benefits that this measure will bring for all employees in Romania, both on short term, that is higher incomes, and on long term in particular, by ensuring higher pensions”.



    Only 159 MPs voted for the motion, three against it and 23 MPs abstained from voting. In order to be adopted, the document should have been endorsed by a qualified majority, that is a minimum of 233 votes cast by senators and deputies. The Social-Democrat MPs left the voting room, and the representatives of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians abstained from voting, saying the initiative of the National Liberal Party was not convincing. Pundits say the Power got a clear victory in Parliament, but they warn that as of Sunday, new anti-government protests will be staged across the country. They are initiated by civil society and trade unions, forecasting a winter full of economic uncertainty as well as of social and political unrest. (Translated by Diana Vijeu)




  • October 13, 2017 (update)

    October 13, 2017 (update)

    GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE – On Thursday,
    three Romanian ministers announced their resignation during the meeting of the
    National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party, the main party in
    the ruling coalition in Romania. The three are the Deputy Prime Minister and
    Regional Development Minister Sevil Shhaideh, the Minister Delegate for
    European Funds Rovana Plumb and the Transport Minister Razvan Cuc. The
    executive committee will convene again on Friday, to discuss potential
    replacements. Prime Minister Mihai Tudose, the one who promoted the idea of a
    government reshuffle, has held talks over the past days with both president
    Klaus Iohannis and the Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea. Tudose has stated
    that the targeted ministers are those with legal problems and those who have not
    been efficient. Both Shhaideh and Plumb are being prosecuted for corruption
    offences. The minister in charge with liaising with Parliament, Viorel Ilie,
    member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, the junior partner
    in the ruling coalition, is in a similar situation. Party representatives
    announced on Thursday that the party was not interested in replacing him.






    PACE – On Thursday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the
    Council of Europe adopted a resolution which reads that Ukraine was wrong in
    passing the new Education Law and will therefore have to implement the
    recommendations that are to be formulated by the Venice Commission. The
    statement was made by Korodi Attila, member of the Romanian Delegation to the
    European body. He has also stated that Ukraine must observe the European
    standards, in particular the European Charter for Regional or Minority
    Languages and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National
    Minorities. The reason for the debate held at the Parliamentary Assembly,
    proposed by the Romanian delegation with support from another five national
    delegations, was the new Education Law adopted in Ukraine, which drastically
    restricts access to mother tongue education for ethnic minorities. On
    Wednesday, the Ukrainian President Petro Poroskeno had promised that the Kiev
    authorities would introduce all the recommendations made by the Venice Commission
    into the law and would observe the European Charter for Regional or Minority
    Languages. Nearly half a million ethnic Romanians live in the neighbouring
    country, mainly in the Romanian territories annexed by the USSR in 1940,
    further to an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine as a successor state in
    1991.






    BREXIT – The European Council is the only place where
    Romania will present its stand on Brexit, said on Thursday the Minister
    Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu. According to him, no Romanian
    official has presented a formal stand regarding the Brexit negotiations.
    Minister Negrescu also stated that the main goal of the Bucharest authorities
    with regard to these negotiations was to ensure the rights of the over 300,000
    Romanians living in the United Kingdom. The clarification was made against the
    background of the British daily The Times saying that Romania, France
    and Germany have called for the blocking of new negotiations chapters, until an
    agreement is reached on the rights of
    foreign citizens in Great Britain.




    AUTOMOTIVE– President
    Klaus Iohannis and PM Mihai Tudose took part on Thursday in the launch of the
    new Ford Ecosport model, at the Ford plant in Craiova, southern Romania. The
    head of state said that, by attending the event, he wanted to convey a strong
    message of support for the automotive industry in Romania, which is growing
    increasingly competitive and has a better and better image in the European
    market. Since it took over the plant in 2008, Ford has invested over one billion
    euros in the production unit in Romania. More than 2,800 people are employed by
    Ford Craiova. The biggest carmaker in Romania is Automobile Dacia, based in
    Pitesti, in the south, taken over by the French group Renault in 1999. Over
    13,500 people are working for this company, which has a turnover of over 4.3
    billion euros.






    SPAIN– Spain
    celebrated its National Day on Thursday, amid tensions between the separatist
    authorities of Catalonia and the central government in Madrid. PM Mariano Rajoy
    gave the regional Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont until Monday to give up
    plans to declare the region’s independence, otherwise Catalonia would see its
    local autonomy suspended. Rajoy accused the Catalan government of having
    generated one of the most difficult times in Spain’s democracy and of having
    staged a very dangerous attack against the Constitution, the unity of Spain,
    the Catalan state and, most importantly, against Spain’s people living
    together.






    MOLDOVA– The European
    Union announced it would not grant the Republic of Moldova the remaining 28
    million euros under the reform programme, intended for changes in the field of
    the judiciary. The Union believes the Government in Chisinau has failed to meet
    the conditions requested by Brussels. The EU delegation in Moldova mentions in
    a news release that the authorities in Moldova have shown poor commitment for
    reform, have not allotted enough funding and staff and, as a result, progress
    in terms of judicial reforms has been insufficient. Last week, PM Pavel Filip
    announced Moldova would no longer receive this year’s installment of the 100
    million euro aid programme provided by the EU. He admitted that the measure had
    been prompted by Chisinau’s decision to change the election system for the
    forthcoming parliamentary elections, in such a manner as to favour the major
    parties.







  • A new Government, a new programme

    A new Government, a new programme


    The political formula on the basis of which the new Tudose Cabinet has been formed by the ruling coalition in Romania, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, is the same as the previous one. Also, 16 members of the former cabinet headed by Sorin Grindeanu, sacked last week under a no-confidence motion filed by his very own party, are also members of the current government. Grindeanu lost the office following accusations that he failed to implement the governing programme with which the Social Democratic Party won parliament election in December 2016 with 45% of the votes.



    Tudoses cabinet has been endorsed by only 275 MPs, by 20 votes less than the Grindeanu team, which could be read as a sign that not only the winners euphoria six months ago started to wear out, but also the cohesion of the parliamentary majority. The Prime Minister himself has stated that Romania does not need a relaxed government, but one that needs to keep alert at all times. He has assured parliamentarians that his objective is to make up for the delays in implementing the governing programme.



    Mihai Tudose: “I do not want to criticize what was before, but I understand there were some brakes involved. I was told to turn these brakes into a gas pedal, and that is what I am going to do.”



    The iron-fist of the governing coalition, the leader of the Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea, has too stated that the programme must be observed, no matter the political costs entailed, and that is why Grindeanu had to go:


    “There were mistakes in the governing process, but we have the strength to admit that. We will be more careful and we will make sure that the deadlines in the governing programme are observed.”



    The problem, however, as pundits have pointed out, is that the programme of the newly instated team is significantly different from the one that Grindeanu was supposed to implement. Several measures concerning pay rises in the public sector have been postponed and the introduction of new taxes and fees is also envisaged. The junior partner in the coalition, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, has announced through its spokesperson Varujan Vosganian that their support to the prime-minister is conditional.



    Varujan Vosganian: “If there are talks on redefining the flat tax by means of quotas re-designed below the existing ones, than we are willing to talk, but any changes in this flat tax translated into increasing the taxation level, no matter how we may call such a deviation, then the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats will not be a party to this.”



    Also conditional was the vote of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, as its leader Kelemen Hunor has pointed out:


    “This vote is not a blank cheque. We will not support the idea of a tax on turnover and we should also be explained what this solidarity tax is meant to stand for. The global income tax is not something to change the situation for the better either. “



    The right-wing opposition was quick to react sarcastically to the current situation. The MPs members of the Peoples Movement Party attended neither the plenary session, nor the voting, and the National Liberal Party voted against the new government and criticized the changes brought to the governing programme. Here is the Liberal MP Ben Oni Ardelean:


    “The National Liberal Party believes that proceeding like this, you are going to destroy the country. What you are doing now is throw away all Romanias chances.”



    On behalf of his party, the Save Romania Union, MP Cristian Seidler was also categorical:


    “Mr. Mihai Tudose, you and your colleagues in the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats have lost any legitimacy to rule this country.”



    Just like a tough principal facing a class of problematic students, president Klaus Iohannis has been extremely critical of the new ministers. “The country is facing a crisis because you were not able to govern it” the president said, blaming the government for changing sensitive elements of the governing program.



    He also called on the new ministers to put an end to what he described as a fiscal-budgetary hop-on, hop-off, as some ministers of the new cabinet have already started to raise controversy. Even before he was sworn in, the Finance Minister Ionut Misa announced the dissolution of the so-called 2nd pillar of the private pension fund. Soon after, though, the Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea termed the announcement as non-sense and Minister Misa took back what he had said earlier. However, the statements have already had a huge impact, causing trouble in the stock and forex markets.