Klaus Iohannis has resigned; not according to the law, but out of fear

Klaus Iohannis is leaving Cotroceni Palace. He announced yesterday that he is resigning from the position of president of the country and that the resignation will take effect tomorrow, February 12. Iohannis' departure from Cotroceni comes almost two months after the expiration of his second presidential term, a term that he extended at the request of the Constitutional Court which, through its decision of December 6, 2024 annulling the presidential elections, established that the incumbent president remains in Cotroceni until the new president takes the oath.

It can be said that Klaus Iohannis resigned from a position that, according to the constitutional provisions regarding the presidential term, he no longer held since December 21, but exercised based on a surprising interpretation of the legal text by the judges of the Constitutional Court. The only impediment to the continued exercise of this function was the request for suspension from office filed by AUR, SOS, POT and USR, a request that, in order to pass the Parliament, needed only a few votes from the PSD-PNL-UDMR coalition. And Iohannis resigned out of fear. The fear of suspension from office, although he officially made it clear that his resignation represented a final gesture against a political crisis.

Klaus Iohannis declared: "Today, in the Romanian Parliament, the procedure for suspending the President was set in motion. It is a useless (...), unfounded, because I have never - I repeat, never - violated the Constitution. And it is a damaging move, because from this everyone loses, no one wins. In a few days, the Romanian Parliament will vote on my suspension and Romania will enter a crisis. Romania will enter a crisis because the referendum to dismiss the President is being launched. This entire endeavor will have effects domestically and will unfortunately also have effects externally. Domestically, the referendum will be an eminently negative one. Society will be divided, some will agree, others will disagree. The entire discussion will be focused only on the negative. The entire society will be shaken. There will be no more discussion about the upcoming presidential elections. There will be no discussion about how Romania will move forward. The candidates will not even be able to present their ideas in this negative amalgam. Externally, the effects will be long-lasting and very negative. Absolutely no one among our partners will understand why Romania is dismissing its President after, in fact, it has already begun the procedure for electing the new President. Absolutely no one will understand what the point of such an endeavor is when the incumbent President will leave anyway. In Romanian terms, we will effectively be the laughingstock of the world. In order to spare Romania and the Romanian citizens from this crisis, from this unnecessary and negative development, I am resigning from the position of President of Romania. I will leave office the day after tomorrow, on February 12".

Unfortunately, the resigning president did not understand that we have been in a political crisis since November 24, despite the appearance of stability given by the Ciolacu 2 government and that he could not prevent that crisis. The political crisis was caused by Klaus Iohannis, on December 4 (by declassifying the documents from the CSAT meeting on November 28), and by the CCR decision on December 6, and not postponed or avoided as the resigning president believes. With yesterday's gesture, Iohannis will remain in history as the first president of Romania to leave office by resignation, a feat surpassed only by Nicolae Ceauşescu, who left the presidency only after being shot.

According to the Constitution, the country's interim president will become the president of the Senate, a position held by the leader of the PNL, Ilie Bolojan, who will exercise that position until the president elected in May takes the oath of office. As interim president, Ilie Bolojan will take over the duties of the head of state, but with some limitations, which consist of the fact that he cannot dissolve Parliament, cannot initiate a referendum and cannot address political messages to Parliament. Liberal Mircea Abrudean, former Secretary General of the Government, would become interim president of the Senate.

• Iohannis' resignation, claimed as a victory by sovereignists

Immediately after Klaus Iohannis' resignation, the sovereignist leaders claimed it as their own victory, and the supporters of AUR, SOS, POT and Călin Georgescu, who were protesting in Piaţa Victoriei in their bid to boycott hypermarkets, became aggressive and had physical and verbal altercations with the police who prevented them from entering the Government headquarters.

Regarding Iohannis' resignation, George Simion, the president of AUR said in posts on his official social media pages: "The usurper is finally gone. Klaus Iohannis has just resigned from office! The worst and most hated president in the history of Romania. If he hadn't had he resigned, he would have been suspended from office by Parliament and thrown out. The second round of the elections must be resumed urgently. It is your victory! Now it is time for the second round back".

In turn, MEP Diana Iovanovici-Şoşoacă, president of SOS, stated that the fight did not end with Klaus Iohannis' resignation, but is just beginning. Diana Iovanovici-Şoşoacă wrote on her official Facebook page: "The next resignation....Ciolacu. Systems change, but the roots remain! (...) The CCR does not want to recognize Iohannis' resignation. The securitist systems, the secret services and not the Romanian ones, are fighting for power. (...) A period of crisis is beginning. Stop spending your cash, stop throwing money away on all the nonsense! After this wretched usurper, the flood is coming. Whoever comes to power now, I don't see him/her well! Not even the parties, no one! The country is bankrupt, in political, economic and social crisis!".

The head of the POT, Anamaria Gavrilă, stated: "What we have wanted for so many years has happened. Since December 21, we have been hoping not to see Iohannis lecturing us anymore. This is the third suspension that we have filed, and although people like Bolojan, Andronache, Fenechiu, from the PNL, have tried with all kinds of tricks to block it. (...) Iohannis is the greatest insult to the Romanian people of our time."

Călin Georgescu, the candidate who came first in the first round of last year's presidential elections, annulled by the CCR, said: "Victory for the Romanian people - Klaus Iohannis has resigned! Now, it is time to return to the rule of law - resume the second round of the elections!".

• Pro-European parties, taken by surprise by Iohannis' gesture

Although some of the liberal and USR leaders were expecting Klaus Iohannis' resignation yesterday, the pro-European parties were surprised by the country's president's gesture.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, head of the PSD, stated that he did not know about President Klaus Iohannis' intention to resign from office and was categorical when it came to the name of the Coalition's presidential candidate.

The Head of Government said: "It is a unilateral act. We had no discussions, we did not know about this announcement. I am not a sociologist to know if this resignation helps Crin Antonescu's candidacy. Yes, with certainty, Crin Antonescu remains the Coalition's candidate. I am not a big fan of President Klaus Iohannis, I have never voted for him. He appointed me prime minister twice because he was obliged by the Constitution. Even if you are the president of Romania, you do not appoint after your own head".

Ilie Bolojan announced that he will suspend himself from the position of PNL president during the interim presidency of Romania. The party's leadership will be ensured throughout that period by Cătălin Predoiu, the Minister of Interior. Ilie Bolojan also said:

Kelemen Hunor, the leader of the UDMR, said that he does not know whether the resignation of President Iohannis is a good or bad decision.

The resignation of President Klaus Iohannis comes too late and does not bring answers to the "questions that have been tormenting the country for two months", said Elena Lasconi, the president of the USR.

Elena Lasconi stated: "A president disconnected from reality, out of step and without any care for the people who have put their trust in him! Klaus Iohannis' resignation comes very late. Much too late to be considered honorable. And it doesn't even bring us answers to the questions that have been tormenting this country for two months: why did they cancel the elections, how do we protect ourselves from the Russians' games, who protects us from manipulation, can we guarantee the security of the next election? After 10 years with Iohannis at Cotroceni, unfortunately, and I say this as a man who believed in him, Romania is more vulnerable than ever. During his reign, democracy fell apart and this cannot be forgiven him," Lasconi wrote on her official Facebook page.

She emphasized that the pressure put by USR in Parliament "woken Iohannis from his slumber."

PSD Vice President Gabriel Zetea said: "It is a correct political gesture; we are finally entering normality. Iohannis should not have continued in this position even for one more day. Instead, he defied Romanians who saw a new gesture of arrogance. Now things have entered a normal path. There were many parliamentarians from the ruling party, from the UDMR, from the PSD, from the PNL, who, under pressure from the people in the counties, would have been extremely inclined to vote for the proposal to suspend him from office. It is a breath of fresh air for Crin Antonescu, the ruling parties were seen as a shield, as a shield for Iohannis. The president is leaving in a wise gesture".

The candidate of the PSD-PNL-UDMR coalition in the presidential elections in May, Crin Antonescu, declared that the resignation of President Klaus Iohannis is the best solution in the face of suspension from office.

Crin Antonescu said: "I do not think we have reason to dramatize. We have constitutional procedures, the President of the Senate will ensure the interim position of head of state, and all other things can proceed normally. I think the president's resignation was a wise one".

Nicuşor Dan, the general mayor of the capital, who recently announced his candidacy as an independent in the presidential elections in May, stated in a post on his official Facebook page: "Klaus Iohannis is gone. People's dissatisfaction with the political class remains. Let's build hope together for the future of society!".