Romanian SocDem leader hints his party stays with the ruling coalition for now

The interim president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in Romania, Sorin Grindeanu, stated on July 10, after the opposition delivered its no-confidence motion against the government, that "his party did not join the ruling coalition to leave [a couple of weeks after]" but warned that the coalition operates on the grounds of a protocol and he hopes that the protocol will be observed [by the other parties] in the future. He signaled discontent within his party vis-à-vis what he implied to be the autocratic implementation of the first package of reforms by prime minister Ilie Bolojan.

The no-confidence motion filed by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) was delivered in front of only 60 (of 465) MPs on July 10 and will be debated on July 14, when the vote is also scheduled.

Although the ruling coalition holds a solid majority (66%), defections among the Social Democratic Party or major conflicts among the factions within the party may, in theory, result in a positive vote for the motion, followed by the overthrow of the government. To avert this scenario, Grindeanu will reportedly request that PSD MPs abstain from voting – a classic method of controlling one's own party's otherwise secret vote.

Sorin Grindeanu demanded again that the second package "takes more account of the Social Democrats' proposals," Digi24 reported.

Most of the proposals outlined by Social Democrats to be included in the second package of reforms are reasonable and actually in line with the promises made by PM Bolojan: cutting the so-called "special pensions," streamlining the management of the public authorities and state companies by eliminating the well-paid decorative positions. Other requests are rather populist, such as tackling the onerous profits made by multinational companies in Romania.

In parallel, the Social Democrats are holding internal consultations to decide the next steps in case "this attitude [of ignoring their proposals] continues," said Grindeanu.

The interim president of the PSD reiterated the ideas that the Social Democrats supported but which were not accepted in the first package of measures, apart from reducing the subsidy for parties.

"We hope that in the second package, where we will come up with concrete proposals, PSD will be taken into account more. Otherwise, during this period, we will hold many internal consultations, which we have already announced, and where we will ask whether this attitude will continue, whether our path is alongside the others in this coalition," Grindeanu also declared.