A major political crisis that could have been avoided

The Bolojan government was dismissed by Parliament yesterday, after senators and deputies voted on the motion of censure introduced by PSD and AUR. 285 valid votes were registered, of which 281 "for" and only 4 "against", given that, for adoption, a minimum of 233 votes were required, the result thus becoming the highest score in the history of motions of censure.

Shortly after the vote, political leaders came out publicly with statements that oscillated between calls for responsibility, firm delimitations and attempts at rapid repositioning. PSD President Sorin Grindeanu said that he does not see the vote as an end of the road, but as an opportunity for recalibration: "I want us to continue in this coalition (ed. - PSD-PNL-USR-UDMR), to really do good things for Romanians. For 10 months, we have not been governing properly. It is our duty to put aside party pride and find a good solution for Romania. (...) The vote cast makes this motion one with a record number of options for. That says something. That says that everything that was said by those who voted met the massive support of Parliament. (...) At this moment, all options are open. A technocratic government? It is not desirable, but I do not rule it out."

In turn, Deputy Prime Minister Cătălin Predoiu, one of the PNL leaders, said: "This coalition had the mission to guarantee Romania's Euro-Atlantic path, to make the necessary corrections and to ensure a development projection. Unfortunately, along the way, it got lost and we should not have reached this point. PNL must choose between rushing into a hasty decision and running away from the responsibility of governing and weighing and assuming the responsibility of governing." In turn, Dan Motreanu, the PNL secretary general, was much more blunt in his assessment of the situation created. "PSD and AUR have brought down the Bolojan Government and have a parliamentary majority. They can no longer play political theater. They have a duty to assume governance, to come up with a prime minister proposal and a clear program. You cannot overthrow a government and then run away from responsibility. In the economy, any signal of political chaos quickly translates into real costs for people,” Dan Motreanu wrote on his Facebook page.

What is certain is that, following the statements of Sorin Grindeanu and Cătălin Predoiu, the anti-Bolojan camp in the PNL has been reactivated, the liberals around Hubert Thuma - the president of the Ilfov County Council -, but also other leaders, such as Nicoleta Pauliuc - the head of the Senate Defense Committee -, requesting that the PNL remain in government in a new coalition with the PSD.

• AUR wants early elections

AUR leader George Simion said: "The Bologna government has just been dismissed by the Romanian Parliament. The ten months in which the so-called pro-Europeans brought nothing but taxes, war and poverty have come to an end. The voice of the people has been heard today. It is time for national reconciliation!"

His party colleague, the leader of the AUR senators, Petrişor Peiu, pointed out: "The ball is now in Mr. Nicuşor Dan's court, we will see what happens. For now, the president of the country has signaled that he will not invite AUR to negotiations or, in any case, he will do so only for decorative purposes, because he excluded AUR from any kind of agreement, he restricted our right to be part of any kind of government, at least for now. To find his majority as he wants, he excluded 20% of Parliament".

Asked if AUR is ready to govern alongside PSD, Peiu said: "Under no circumstances. AUR helped PSD fulfill its plan. We did not say that we are willing to enter government under any conditions. If all political leaders respect what they said before the vote, it means that we are on the early election scenario. That is, a government cannot be formed".

On the part of USR, president Dominic Fritz categorically ruled out a formula for collaboration with PSD: "We will not negotiate a new government with PSD. You cannot govern with a partner who blocks reforms with a reserve majority with AUR in his pocket".

• The debate on the motion, a moment of dispute between the former coalition partners

This attitude emerged during the debate on the motion of censure, when Diana Buzoianu, Minister of the Environment, Waters and Forests, told its initiators: "Millions of Romanians see you and will hold you accountable. This motion is so that you can keep your privileges, your sinecures and your contracts with dedication. Your new marriage with AUR is for combinations, for sinecures".

In contrast, Radu Oprea, former Secretary General of the Bolojan Government, presented a severe economic picture: "Let's turn on the light: in 10 months, inflation has doubled, Romania has entered a technical recession, investments have collapsed, Romanians have become poorer. The cause is the stubbornness of a man who thinks he knows everything".

In turn, George Simion, the leader of AUR, amplified the political message: "If Mr. Bolojan does not understand what is happening to him and why he is going home, we have listed, in countless motions of censure, the reasons that should determine him to go home. Mr. Bolojan, you generated, in the first months of government, an economic recession. We have had an economic crisis for three quarters in a row, through the prism of your first months of government. You generated poverty because you did not cut privileges. (...) You had 10 months to cut privileges and you did not cut them. Instead, you took from mothers, from veterans, from pensioners, from vulnerable categories. That is why you must go home. Romanians would have wanted water, food, energy, but they received taxes, war and poverty. It is time that, through today's vote in Parliament, the voice of Romanians be heard and we will continue to do what is right for Romanians. We cannot live with the illusion that the same people can generate different results.”

The AUR president also spoke about the need for national reconciliation and added that the party he leads assumes a future government. "Yes, we assume the future of this country, we assume a future government, we assume to restore the hope of the Romanians. Romania must go back to the vote of the Romanians, Mr. Bolojan, if you really want to be a reformer: 300 parliamentarians, cutting money for political parties and two rounds for the election of mayors and presidents of county councils,” said George Simion.

Ilie Bolojan rejected the accusations in direct terms: "The motion is false, cynical and artificial. It is based on data that is not real and it seems that it was written by people who were not in government.” He insisted on the context: "Romania was coming from 2024 with the largest deficit. I didn't produce it, I found it and I couldn't hide it" and accused his opponents of incoherence: "They talk about the impoverishment of the population: VAT, CASS... But didn't we decide these together? How hypocritical are you?".

Radu Miruţă, the Minister of National Defense, in the Bolojan government, formulated one of the harshest interventions: "The motion is a confrontation between an old way of doing politics, by which some controlled all the state's resources, and another, in which we make selections at state companies and send those who break the law to the Prosecutor's Office".

Taken as a whole, yesterday was more than just a change of government - it was a demonstration of political strength coupled with a remarkable selective memory, in which former partners became adversaries overnight, each claiming, with almost impeccable seriousness, the role of corrector of mistakes to which, not long ago, they contributed. And, in all this game of repositioning, the only certainty seems to remain that intense negotiations, firm promises and, of course, the general conviction that, this time, things will undoubtedly be different will follow.