Romania's ruling coalition, which is currently trying to gather enough votes to have their own Government removed by no-confidence vote this Wednesday, has been negotiating with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) in the last days. The negotiation included several topics, among which establishing the Day of Hungarians in Romania, and the mandatory use of Hungarian in local administration.

March 15 may become the Day of Hungarians in Romania, as the Senate’s joint committees of public administration and human rights drafted a favorable report on the adoption of a draft bill in this sense on Monday, June 19. The law, however, did not make it to the Parliament for vote, as it was hastily scheduled amidst negotiations between the ruling coalition and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR).

UDRM had submitted the project on March 15 this year. The two committees had until June 27 to take a decision in this case, but they decided to give a favorable vote just two days before the vote on the no-confidence motion against the Government, initiated by the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD).

The governing coalition made up of PSD and ALDE had several discussions with UDRM, hoping to get their votes for the no-confidence motion.

However, the two parties haven’t managed to reach an agreement on another topic, namely the minority population threshold above which the use of that minority’s language becomes mandatory in the local administration. Following this unsolved issue, the Permanent Bureau of the Senate decided on Tuesday to withdraw from the agenda the laws negotiated the day before with UDMR, including the one that established March 15 as the Day of Hungarians in Romania, reports local News.ro. It’s not yet certain when the Senate will vote on this draft law.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday afternoon, UDRM president Kelemen Hunor announced that his party won't participate in the no-cofidence motion vote on Wednesday, reports local Digi24.

A political crisis started within the governing coalition last week after the two ruling parties’ leaders announced that they withdrew the political support for the Government led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu. Most of the ministers resigned from the Government after this announcement, but Grindeanu refused to do the same. Thus, the ruling coalition decided to file a no-confidence motion, which will be voted in the Parliament on Wednesday, June 21. If the motion passes, Romania will have to appoint a new Prime Minister.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com