By: V4 Agency
A government crisis erupted in the EU country in early September. The prime minister ousted the justice minister, after which the party coalition backing the minister withdrew political support from the PM. The no-confidence motion launched by an opposition party was accepted by the MPs on Tuesday, indicating the official toppling of the government. The head of state is convening representatives of the parliamentary parties for consultation next week.
The Romanian president will begin government formation talks with parliamentary parties on Monday, Mr Iohannis announced on Thursday, maszol.ro news portal reports. President Iohannis also shared the news on his social media account.
The first round of talks commence at noon on Monday, the outlet writes. The motion of no-confidence against the Florin Citu-led government, was launched by the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) and was carried by a total of 281 deputies and senators voting in favour on Tuesday. A minimum of 234 votes was needed to bring down the government.
As we reported earlier, Romania’s government crisis erupted in early September, when PM Florin Citu suspended Justice Minister Stelian Ion after the premier had tried to push through a national development plan without the coalition’s backing, as an added point to the agenda at the government meeting on 1 September. This was prevented by the justice minister’s USR PLUS party alliance, formed by Save Romania Union (USR) and Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS), on grounds that Stelian Ion had only received a copy of the draft government decree. In response to the dismissal of the justice minister, the party alliance withdrew its support from the premier.
For the moment, Florin Citu is still the head of the government, acting in a limited provisional capacity. As regards the naming of a new government, President Klaus Iohannis has to negotiate with the parties.
The Romanian president said on Wednesday that a few days are needed for political tensions to calm down in the country, which is why he decided to not start talks with the parliamentary parties until next week. In the same interview, Mr Iohannis also said that he could not rule out the option of reappointing Florin Citu to form the government once again.