Frozen Conflict: Government Crisis in Bucharest Continues
Parliament goes into summer recess without electing a new prime minister, while confidence in President Dan is eroding due to questionable crisis management
Romania’s parliamentary summer recess has begun anything but quietly. The vote of no confidence against the government of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan (PNL) on 5 May triggered fierce political battles across the Romanian political landscape. The vote itself was widely perceived as a sacrilege: the motion of no confidence was jointly introduced by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the right-wing populist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). It remains unclear which side was effectively enabling the other. The motion received 281 votes—well above the 233 votes required for its adoption.
Following the vote, PSD members withdrew from the government. Since then, Bolojan has continued to serve in a caretaker capacity, together with the reform-oriented Save Romania Union (USR) and the party representing the Hungarian minority (UDMR). Acting as a mediator in the increasingly tense political situation, President Nicușor Dan is steadily losing the confidence of many of his former supporters.
