Liberals’ Announcement

In a video posted on social media, Ciuca declared that the coalition has reached its political conclusion. He cited a recent Constitutional Court ruling that disqualified a far-right candidate as a primary concern, describing it as a significant threat to democracy in Romania. Despite the coalition’s dissolution, Ciuca affirmed that PNL would remain in government to prevent what he termed “abuses” by the PSD, arguing that stepping back would be irresponsible.

His remarks reflect deep frustrations with the PSD’s handling of critical issues and highlight the growing divisions between the two parties as they approach crucial elections scheduled for November and December.

Yet, the last straw that broke the Coalition’s back was when Ciuca highlighted a recent ruling by the Constitutional Court that disqualified far-right candidate Diana Șoșoacă from the presidential race, which he described as a politically motivated act that raises questions about the integrity of Romania’s democratic processes. Ciuca asserted that this ruling, made by a majority of judges appointed by PSD, effectively eliminated a political adversary and demonstrated what he termed an “abuse of power” inherent in the PSD’s governance style. He emphasized that such actions could lead to further political repression, warning that if left unchecked, PSD could undermine democratic institutions and media freedoms.

Socialists’ Response

In response to Ciuca’s announcement, PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu issued an official statement urging PNL to reconsider its decision. He emphasized the need for responsibility and dialogue, suggesting that PNL should return to the negotiation table to address their differences constructively. Ciolacu criticized Ciuca’s approach, warning that abandoning the coalition could lead to instability in governance at a critical time for the country. He underscored the importance of collaboration in tackling national challenges and maintaining a united front against extremist parties.

Implications for Future Governance

The dissolution of this coalition raises questions about legislative stability in Romania as both parties navigate a precarious political landscape ahead of upcoming elections. With both Ciuca and Ciolacu running for president in this electoral cycle, the dynamics between PNL and PSD will be closely watched as they seek to appeal to voters while managing their internal conflicts.

As Romania moves forward into this uncertain political climate, the calls for dialogue and responsibility from both sides highlight the complexities of governance in a divided political landscape. The coming weeks will be crucial as both parties attempt to define their paths amidst growing electoral pressures.

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Open discussions between the two parties forming the governing alliance regarding one candidate have been known for the last 12 months. Yet, no decision was made, and both parties wanted to offer their candidate support from the other party in the alliance.

On Tuesday, June 11, the two party leaders, Nicolae Ciuca and Marcel Ciolacu, met to discuss the strategy for the next elections. After the meeting, Mr Ciuca offered a short statement to the journalists:

PNL will have its own candidate (for the presidential elections). We will decide in the party’s leadership forums.

Nicolae Ciuca, Liberal Party Leader, on candidacy for presidential elections

He also mentioned the Liberals and the Socialists could not have the same candidate for the presidential elections.

Sources mentioned that Nicolae Ciuca would be the Liberal Party’s proposal for the presidential elections this autumn, and the announcement will be made public soon.

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The EPP includes 84 parties and partners from 44 countries, the presidents of the European Commission (Ursula von der Leyen) and the European Parliament (Roberta Metsola), heads of state or government from 12 EU member countries, ten members of the European Commission and the most significant political group (178 members) in the European Parliament.

Among the presidents and prime ministers, we mention:

• The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis
• The Prime Minister of Finland, Petteri Orpo
• The Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden
• The President of Cyprus, Nikos CHRISTODOULIDES
• Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer
• The Prime Minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar
• The Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic
• The Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk
• The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis
• The Prime Minister of Lithuania, Ingrida Simonyte

Approximately 2000 participants from 44 countries have been invited to take part.

The forthcoming 2024 EPP Congress in Bucharest, jointly hosted by the Romanian party PNL, will center on the election of our lead candidate and the unveiling of our electoral manifesto for the European Parliament elections scheduled for June 6-9, 2024. The Congress represents a moment of unity, reflection, and inspiration, allowing us to celebrate achievements and address challenges such as Russia’s war in Ukraine, the increasing cost of living, and the threats posed by populism and extremism. As the EPP stays true to its values, we emphasize empowering the people of Europe, preserving our deep-rooted values, and protecting the Union against internal and external threats.

EPP official communication

EPP CONGRESS IN BUCHAREST PROGRAMME

WEDNESDAY, 6 MARCH 2024

08:00-09:30
EPP Ethics Committee

08:30-12:30
EPP Group Study Days 1st session (including a session with EPP Group CoR)

10:00-12:00
Resolution Committee

14:00
Congress: 1st Plenary Session
Welcome speeches

14:30
Debate focusing on the voice of villages, cities and regions

15:15
Debates and exchanges with Presidents of the Parliamentary Assemblies Council of Europe, NATO, OSCE, Chairpersons of Groups, EPP Associations, WMCES President
• Discussion on defence and security
• Discussion on intergenerational solidarity
• Discussion on the economy and jobs

16:15
Interventions by non-EU Heads of State and Government, non-EU Opposition and Party Leaders

17:15
Presentation and vote on ordinary and emergency Resolutions and Statutory changes

18:15
EPP Electoral Manifesto: Presentation and Vote

19:15
Closing Remarks

EPP reception and family dinner co-hosted by PNL

THURSDAY, 7 MARCH 2024

8:00-09:00
Women Empowering Perspectives for Peace

8:00-09:00
EPP-CoR Group Local Dialogue on Enlargement

8:00-09:00
EPP Group Study Days 2nd session

9:00
Congress: 2nd Plenary Session
Interventions by EU Opposition and Party Leaders

9:45
Address by EPP President

10:00
Speech(es) by nominee(s) for EPP Lead Candidate

10:15–11:45
Election of the EPP Lead Candidate for President of the European Commission (Secret Ballot)

10:15- 11:45
Interventions by Deputy Prime Ministers and EU Heads of State and Government

11:45-12:10
Address by EU institutions Presidents and President of Romania

12:15-12:30
Announcement of the result of the election of the EPP Lead Candidate
Acceptance Speech of the EPP Lead Candidate
Closing of the Congress

For more details on the Congress, please visit the dedicated website https://www.epp2024.eu/.

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Also, they decided to collate the Europarliamentary with the local elections.

AUR, the nationalist party led by George Simion, is the main target for both Socialists and Liberals during the Europarliamentary elections in June. AUR’s growth in popularity, based on lots of votes from the Romanians living abroad, could mean that the Euro skeptics could win more seats and create a more prominent political group.

The leaders of the two ruling parties, Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciuca, mentioned stability as the base of this political construction. The country needs stability; therefore, the two parties want to offer a stable political alliance. They also justified their decision to collate the local and the Europarliamentary elections with an opinion poll, supposedly conducted a day before the decision, whose results say Romanians want collated elections.

On the other hand, the Opposition parties denounce the Alliance as a blow to democracy and an attempt to confiscate the country’s ruling for the years to come.

National and European watchdogs are expected to say if the local and the Europarliamentary elections can be collated in Romania. Suppose these institutions give the green light to this initiative. In that case, there will be a complicated voting system in June, which will only add to the complicated political situation.

Strong opinions are saying that both Socialists and Liberals will lose crucial percentages, and they won’t be able to reach the desired 50% at the ballots. Currently, adding both parties’ voting intention, the math is under 50%, with the Socialists counting for 29.5 and Liberals for 18.8. Yet, with 18.4%, AUR is close behind the Liberals, and these percentages are in a predictable dynamic – the current ruling Coalition, especially after the alliance, is to lose some votes. At the same time, the Opposition, which includes the USR and the so-called Reformists, might win significant percentages in voting intention.

The post Romania: Current Ruling Coalition Enters Alliance for Europarliamentary Elections appeared first on Valahia.News.

Not only that, but this weekend occurred two significant events which could make AUR grow exponentially. The first one is the presence of Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban in Romania, where his speech attacked Romania and upset lots of people. Orban mocked the Romanian authorities, telling the Hungarian minority gathered at Baile Tusnad, at the Summer University, that the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tried to impose on him what to tell and what to avoid during his speech. Among others, he stated, to the delight of the Hungarians present, that he had never said that Transylvania belonged to Romania. This controversial statement fuels Romanian people’s desire to vote for nationalist parties like AUR.

The second event is AUR’s launching of its candidates for the Europarliamentary elections 2024. Among them, there are famous people, but also current MEPs.

The same opinion poll shows that the coalition parties PSD – the Socialists, and PNL – the Liberals, lost people’s trust. The Socialists stayed at 31% voting intention, while the Liberals dropped to 18% from 20% in May.

Here is an explanation: the Liberals had the Prime Minister position within the coalition’s algorithm for a year and a half, and the Socialists have just taken the position. So, the tendency could reverse, with the Socialists dropping in voting intention, while Liberals could slightly grow.

Nationalism on the rise tendency is present in Europe, not only in Romania, and we see the far right growing in France, Germany and Italy.

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The agreement was that Nicolae Ciuca, the current Prime Minister, is to rule the Government until May 25th, when he would resign and let his Socialist colleague, the head of the Social Democratic Party, Marcel Ciolacu, be assigned as Prime Minister until the end of the current political mandate of the Parliament. This agreement is broken, as Ciuca decided not to resign.

The presidents of the three ruling parties appeared on national tv stations assuming this postponement in rotation. Marcel Ciolacu, who was expected to be Prime Minister this month, has to wait until the teachers’ strike is over. It could be weeks or months.

Nicolae Ciuca has his second questionable political moment. His first was precisely when he entered politics. As a former Chief of Army Staff, Ciuca promised not to enter politics when he retired. He failed to keep his promise and joined the National Liberal Party. Soon after, he became president of the Liberals and Prime Minister. Such a brilliant political career, right? Wrong, as political pundits say, Cuca is Romania’s President’s political puppet.

His second questionable moment was when he failed to keep his promise and resigned from office. Both moments show how much trust you can have in hearing a promise from him.

On the other hand, Marcel Ciolacu seems like a Socialist who dances when Liberals play a piece of specific music. Far from showing the same solid political posture of the former Socialist leaders, Ciolacu gave up any form of criticism of decisions taken by Liberals and preferred to remain silent but in power.

No solid opposition in Romania makes all these possible. The current Governing Coalition will keep power until 2024; no other alliances can oppose them until the next elections. In this context, Romania seems like a stable democracy from the outside, but people started noticing it’s far from that.

The post Romanian Governing Coalition Decides to Postpone ‘PM Rotation’ appeared first on Valahia.News.

Citu’s quick jump to power turns into an abrupt fall. On the other hand, his short career as the party’s leader wasn’t smooth.

He was elected president on September 25th, 2021, defeating the former leader, Ludovic Orban, whom he had also replaced as Prime Minister. Less than two weeks later, on October 5th, Citu lost his position as Prime Minister following the no-confidence motion in Parliament. Now it’s his turn to lose power to the current PM, Nicolae Ciuca.

Florin Citu was a controversial politician. He admitted he did time in the US for unpaired driving. He also swore he wouldn’t ally with the Socialists as long as he was in power, but he did that. The current governing coalition is the result of his agreement with the Socialists.

His fate seems to become a habit in the Liberal Party. Ludovic Orban, the former leader, was isolated by the Liberals before his ousting from power. Now, it’s his turn to be separated: despite summoning a formal meeting with the party leaders, he signed his resignation alone in the party’s headquarters.

The current PM, Nicolae Ciuca, is the best-positioned candidate to take the party’s leadership. An ex-general, he is preferred to any other ‘civilian’ during the regional context. On the other hand, his lack of experience in politics and his visible obedience to the head of state, Klaus Johannis, and the NATO structures make him the perfect man for the job in Romania.

Currently, the Liberal Party is falling in the recent opinion polls, reaching 15%, while the other party forming the ruling coalition, the Social-Democratic Party, has 35%.

The post Romanian National Liberal Party Leader Resigns appeared first on Valahia.News.

PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu sent a clear message to the National Liberal Party leader, Florin Citu: if the coalition between PSD and PNL breaks, Romania will have early elections. This happens in the context of strong disagreement between the two parties following the increasing energy costs.

I inform him (Ed. Florin Citu) that if the PSD leaves the Government, we will have early elections

Marcel Ciolacu, PSD leader

In an interview offered to a local TV station, Social Democratic Party president Marcel Ciolacu highlighted the relationship between the two ruling parties. The disorder inside the coalition PSD-PNL reflects different conceptions and approaches in governing the country.

There are three years left until the elections, and we have come to power to help and bring coherence. We have brought stability, a majority, and we should use this.

Marcel Ciolacu, PSD leader

PSD leader also mentioned that the coalition is facing other problems, and the PNL leader should recognize that if PSD hadn’t been governing, Romania would’ve looked a lot worse than today.

If the ruling coalition breaks up, Romania will have to face a period of political instability amid one of the worse crises it’s have ever been through. There will be a couple of months until the elections, and no assumed political leader can afford that, let alone the Romanian people.

The post Romanian Socialists Threaten with Early Elections if Ruling Coalition Breaks Up appeared first on Valahia.News.

According to the poll results conducted by INSCOP, the situation looks like this:

• PSD (the Socialists): 34.4%
• AUR (the Nationalists): 20.6%
• PNL (the Liberals): 16.6%
• USR (the Reformists): 12.5%

An explanation for the rise of the Nationalists is how the Romanian Government handled the vaccination campaigns and restrictions. Romania is where some of the most rigid restrictions infuriated the population and increased the resistance against the pro-vaccination movements.

In March 2020, the Government considered properly taking out the militaries with armoured vehicles and machine guns on the streets as a deterrent to keep the population inside. At that moment, there were barely 100 cases of infections a day. With 30,000 daily cases, the same Government, formed by the Socialists and the Liberals, hesitate to take drastic measures.

The fear of not offering AUR a boost in the polls is also behind the decision to postpone the implementation of the so-called green pass in Romania. In December, on the 21st, AUR called protesters in Bucharest, in front of the Parliament, broke through the large gates, jumped over the fence and reached the steps of the building. The protest wanted to prevent the MPs from adopting the green pass in the country. Successfully, we might add.

AUR members are portrayed as anti-European, but their public actions and speeches are rather nationalist than anti-European. Meanwhile, both the Socialists and the Liberals adopted vital pro-European and pro-NATO speeches regarding vaccination and European policies.

It’s not the merit of AUR but rather the mistakes of the parties in power in Romania. The Socialists and the Liberals must understand that politics is not only about obeying orders coming from Brussels. Listening to your own people is an essential quality in democracy; it’s not populism. This is what AUR does. This is how the Nationalists have grown so far.

The post Opinion Poll: Nationalists Climb into Second Position in Romania appeared first on Valahia.News.

The Romanians remember his mandate, and some even recollect those years when Romania started to grow economically by an unprecedented annual rate of +8%.

His political expertise is recognized, so his opinion still counts in politics and society. His last post on Facebook, 15 years after Romania joined the EU, was the subject of a vivid debate.

After acknowledging the benefits for Romania of joining the European Union, among which he mentions the freedom of traveling and the improvement of the living conditions, Tariceanu expresses his regrets.

Romania’s current leaders don’t understand that the European Union is a community of equal states. Each one contributes to the common good but doesn’t forget to defend and promote its interests. Through their deplorable behavior, they make Romania treated as a second-rate country. I strongly urge them to represent and protect Romania’s interests.

Former Romanian PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu on Facebook

Is Romania a second-rate country?

Opinion polls show that Romanians are not happy with the way things go in the country. Also, Romanians witnessed their country being humiliated by the European institutions, including the European Commission. Romania is seen mainly as a corrupt state, with corrupted politicians and lazy people, but the current leaders do little to defend the country. Not all politicians are corrupt, not all people are lazy, and exceptions shouldn’t define the European people, may it be the Romanians.

Most of the time, the European institutions’ orders are obeyed to the letter by the Romanian Government. On top of that, whoever dares to criticize the European Union is seen as pro-Russian. It’s enough for many to lower their voice. It’s enough for many to be discouraged from expressing their freedom of speech.

This has become even stronger during the last two years. Those who opposed compulsory vaccination, as the EU ordered, were labeled as anti-vaxxers and, of course, pro-Russian. Mass-media entities fighting the idea that people would lose their freedoms were censored, fined with tens of thousands of Euros, and ridiculed with the help of the pro-European press.

Behind the carefully written political speeches of the country’s leaders, there is a fracture in Romanian society. Romanians label each other, and everyone’s guilty in the country: you are guilty if you utter anti-vaccination opinions. You are also culpable if you speak against the European Union. The people lived this situation 32 years ago when the communist regime censored any views against the then leaders. Those times are back once again.

Many Romanians think the same – the current leaders are too obedient, and all they do is execute the orders from Bruxelles. Nationalism is rising in Romania, with the nationalist party AUR reaching an unbelievable 17% in the last opinion polls. This is why we believe the country is heading in a very different direction from what it was running on January 1st, 2007, 15 years ago.

Romanians want their leaders to defend the country’s interests in Brussels, and the current situation is far off this goal. Romania seems like a country begging for its rights instead of diplomatically acting like an equal state in the Union. The other solution is for the European Union to change the very definition of the word ‘ Union’. This will solve everything.

The post Romania’s Ex-PM: Romania’s Leaders Do NOT Understand EU is a Union of Equal States appeared first on Valahia.News.