Opposition files no-confidence motion against Romanian government

The far-right opposition party Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) announced, in a press conference held on July 9, that it filed a no-confidence motion against the government of prime minister Ilie Bolojan in response to the executive's request for a no-vote procedure involving its fiscal corrective package. The motion will be delivered in front of the joint chambers on July 10, and the debate is scheduled for Monday, July 15.

In a press conference, AUR MP Ramona Bruynseels stated that AUR filed the motion of censure because "it is obvious that this government must leave the office," Hotnews.ro reported.

MP Mircia Chelaru said that submitting the motion is "a form of political protest" against the tax measures.

However, AUR parliamentarians did not specify how many signatures they managed to collect for the motion.

"It doesn't matter how many signatures there are. We have signatures from AUR, SOS Romania, POT, and unaffiliated parliamentarians," said Mihai Enache, the leader of AUR deputies.

According to the latest data published by Hotnews.ro, the three opposition parties likely to back the motion (AUR, SOS Romania, and POT) have 133 MPs (89, 26, and 19, respectively), while the other 21 MPs are not affiliated with any political group. This results in a total number of 152 MPs potentially supporting the motion against the government, compared to a minimum of 233 (50%+1 of the total of 465 MPs) needed to overthrow the executive.

In contrast, the four parties of the ruling coalition have a majority of 294 MPs, to which are added 17 MPs from the national minorities group – a group that supports the government in Parliament. In total, a robust majority of 311 MPs (66.8%).

The opposition expects support from MPs of the ruling coalition, mainly from the Social Democrats (131 MPs). But the high number of votes needed from the ruling coalition (81 MPs, more than a quarter of the ruling coalition's MPs) makes the likelihood of a majority vote against the government highly unlikely. Assuming only PSD MPs among the possible defections, this would mean that a majority of 61% of the Social Democrats must support the motion in order to overthrow the executive.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)