Ciolacu Government, under pressure from censure motion

The plenary session of Parliament is convened today at 11 a.m. to debate and vote on the no-censure motion filed against the Ciolacu government by AUR, SOS Romania and POT. According to parliamentary regulations, parliamentary groups have 39 minutes to debate the motion, with the same amount of time allocated to the Government to support its position.

On Tuesday, AUR Senator Petrişor Peiu presented the text of the motion in the plenary session of Parliament. The document, titled "Prime Minister NORDIS must go, Romanians are fed up with humiliation", argues that the current government is "illegitimate", with a record that the initiators consider marked by abuses and failures, although it has been in power for only two months.

The signatories of the motion claim that Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was imposed by President Klaus Iohannis, who they characterized as "illegitimate" at the time of the government's appointment. The motion accuses the Government of lacking legitimacy and of perpetuating a political regime that citizens have rejected.

Another serious accusation refers to the Nordis scandal, described as a fraud of huge proportions, worth tens of millions of euros, which would have affected almost 1,000 Romanians. According to the text of the motion, the association of the Prime Minister and some members of the cabinet with this scandal compromises the credibility of the Executive.

The leader of the USR deputies, Ionuţ Moşteanu, reiterated the party's decision not to vote on the motion. He explained that the party does not want to contribute to governmental instability without having a clear solution for the next day.

On the other hand, PSD representatives believe that the censure motion will not pass. Deputy Mihai Ghigiu stated that the Government has a consolidated majority and that there is no risk that any PSD member will vote in favor of dismissing the Ciolacu cabinet. Ghigiu assured that the motion would be rejected, emphasizing that not even the initiators of the motion have real expectations that it will be adopted.

In order for this motion of censure to be adopted, a majority of 50%+1 of the total number of senators and deputies is required, respectively 232 favorable votes.