Romania is once again plunging into political turmoil. Just 10 months after the formation of a pro-European governing coalition uniting the Social Democrats, the liberals of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR) and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), the government has fallen following a no-confidence motion passed on Tuesday, May 5.
Filed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), the motion was supported by 281 lawmakers, far exceeding the 233 votes required to topple the government. Despite some dissent within the PSD, the two parties, which together counted fewer than 216 members on the day of the vote, managed to convince lawmakers from other far-right parties as well as unaffiliated MPs and deputies representing national minorities to support the motion.
Entitled “STOP the ‘Bolojan Plan’ to destroy the economy, impoverish the population and sell off state assets,” the no-confidence motion condemned the austerity policy implemented by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan to tackle the European Union’s highest public deficit – 9.3% of GDP at the end of 2024. With a VAT increase from 19% to 21% and budget cuts in education and local administrations, the deficit did fall to 7.9% of GDP by the end of 2025, but inflation continues to rise, reaching 9.9% in March and fueling social anger.
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