BUCHAREST: Romania’s Social Democrat-led government easily survived a no-confidence motion in parliament on Wednesday, three days after mass street protests forced it into an embarrassing U-turn over a graft decree.
Critics said the decree, which also drew rebukes from Romania’s Western allies, would have turned back the clock on the fight against corruption in the ex-communist nation of 20 million people. The government rescinded the decree on Sunday.
“I do hope that as of today we get back to work,” Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu told lawmakers before the vote.
The Social Democrats and their allies control nearly two thirds of the seats in parliament after winning a December election. They abstained in Wednesday’s vote, when 161 lawmakers backed the no-confidence motion and eight voted against.
The government, however, has been badly shaken by the protests, the largest in Romania since the 1989 fall of communism, and opposition parties vowed after Wednesday’s vote to continue their close scrutiny of the ruling party’s actions.
One minister resigned last week saying he could not support the decree and the Social Democrats have said they are considering the position of Justice Minister Florin Iordache, the architect of the decree.
Party sources have said he may resign on Wednesday and Grindeanu said on Wednesday a decision on Iordache would be announced on Thursday.
Opposition deputy Catalin Predoiu said of the no-confidence motion: “This is a warning signal that we managed to gather the votes of the whole opposition and it also shows that whenever the new government derails we will gather and sanction it.”
Grindeanu said his government would not consider any further initiatives similar to the rescinded decree “that could awake powerful emotions in society without proper and wide debate”. — Reuters
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