site.btaRomanian Far-Right Parties Submit Four No-Confidence Motions over Austerity Package

The three far-right parties in the Romanian parliament: Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), Youth Party (POT), and SOS Romania, along with independent MPs, have submitted four motions of no confidence related to four of the five bills included in the second budgetary and fiscal package proposed by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s government. The news was reported in a press release made available to BTA’s Correspondent’s Office in Bucharest.

The no-confidence motions will be presented at a plenary session at 11:00 a.m. local (and Bulgarian) time on Thursday, September 4, and will be debated and voted on Sunday, September 7, as decided by the Standing Bureaus of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

According to AUR, the austerity measures were adopted without transparent debate or consultation.

The nationalists stated: “The current government chose to usurp the right to dictate laws as it pleases, opposing the logic of democracy and the separation of powers in the state. Never in the history of European democracies has there been such abuse: assuming responsibility for five major projects in a single day, as the ruling coalition holds over 70% majority. This practice deprives the Romanian people of their fundamental right to representation.”

The four no-confidence motions submitted by the far-right parties and their allies target the economy, state-owned companies, autonomous institutions, and healthcare.

“The government is burying the Romanian economy. Instead of supporting Romanian entrepreneurs, it prefers to favour major international players. The retention of the minimum turnover tax suffocates small businesses, while multinational corporations benefit from special deductions. Increasing the tax on stock market transactions destroys the domestic capital market. The introduction of an additional tax on transport companies raises costs and harms competitiveness,” AUR argued.

On September 1, the Romanian government assumed responsibility in parliament for the bills included in the second budgetary-fiscal package, which aims to reduce the excessive budget deficit that reached 9.3% of GDP last year.

Under the Romanian Constitution, a bill is considered passed in the form in which it was submitted unless a motion of no confidence is filed within three days. If such a motion is filed and supported by a majority of deputies and senators, the government falls.

Although the ruling coalition holds a comfortable majority in parliament, the austerity measures have triggered tensions both in society and within the four-party coalition itself.