Romanian Ruling Coalition in Crisis, USR-PLUS Asks Prime Minister to Resign

The ruling coalition in Romania enters the deepest political crisis so far. USR-PLUS, one of the parties to form this fragile coalition, asks for the resignation of Prime Minister Florin Citu, whom they accuse of breaking the established rules for political cooperation within the Government.

The situation escalated quickly, in just a few hours. On Wednesday, the USR-PLUS ministers left the meeting where the PM and the ministers of the Government were discussing adopting a political program dedicated to offering consistent funds for the local communities. USR-PLUS accused Florin Citu and the other liberal official of dedicating this program to the liberal mayors, not for properly developing the local communities. This move would have ensured the Prime Minister the votes of the liberal mayors before the internal elections in September.

The crisis got even worse. After President Klaus Iohannis publicly asked for calm within the ruling coalition, another decision of the Prime Minister Citu sets the coalition on fire. In short, Citu decided to ask President Klaus Iohannis for the resignation from the office of the Minister of Justice, Mr. Ion Stelian, a member of the USR-PLUS party. This was clearly done without him consulting the USR-PLUS leaders, which he promised he would do in case he wanted to revoke any of the USR-PLUS members of the Government. From this perspective, it is a clear breach of the political understanding between the Prime Minister and the coalition leaders.

In these conditions, USR-PLUS wants to break the coalition and asks for the resignation of Prime Minister Florin Citu.

The Prime Minister is currently in a plain campaign before the internal election. On September 25 he will run for a mandate as the president of the National Liberal Party against the current leader, Mr. Ludovic Orban.

A decision on this crisis is to be expected on Thursday morning. It is interesting what President Iohannis will do with the proposition to dismiss the Minister of Justice.