The first test of the year in Parliament for the governing coalition: 3 simple motions / USR called a PSD minister to give explanations

The Romanian Senate debates and votes today, after 16:00, three simple motions submitted by the opposition against some decisions or members of the Government: the decision regarding the EU-Mercosur agreement; against the USR Minister of Defense, Radu Miruță, and against the Interim Minister of Education, who is Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan. USR instead called the Minister of Energy to explain the drinking water crisis in Curtea de Argeș.

• The three simple motions and the summoning by the USR of a PSD minister to the Parliament come in the context where in recent weeks the attacks within the governing coalition have been increasing. PSD is still waiting for answers from the territory to decide whether or not to stay in government.
• The passing of a simple motion does not automatically lead to the dismissal of a minister, being a parliamentary instrument through which the position is expressed on a certain domestic or foreign policy issue.

The opposition formed by the Peace Group, which includes majority MPs who left Diana Șoșoacă's party and AUR, filed three simple motions last week: against the interim Minister of Education, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan; against the USR Minister of Defense, Radu Miruță, and against the decision of the Romanian authorities to vote for the EU-Mercosur agreement.

All three motions will be debated and voted on today, after 4:00 p.m., in the Romanian Senate, where Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan will most likely be present, according to HotNews information.

The simple motion submitted to the Senate against Ilie Bolojan is entitled “Education between breakdown and abandonment. How students are turned into budgetary collateral”.

The second motion, which is directed against the Minister of Defense, Radu Miruță, is entitled “Progressive Minister Radu Miruță compromises the credibility of Romania's defense policy through irresponsible statements and lack of strategic analysis”.

In the third simple motion, the Government is criticized for the positive vote on the EU-Mercosur agreement. The motion is entitled: “The EU-Mercosur Agreement: how Romania engages in a major strategic agreement by clandestine mandate, without analysis and against its own interests”.

For a simple motion to be adopted by the Senate, the majority of senators present at the meeting need to vote “for” (67, in case of 100% attendance). AUR and the “PACE – First Romania” parliamentary group together have 40 of the 133 senators.

USR counterattacks

In response to PSD's recent attacks and in the context in which the social democrats even voted last year a simple motion against USR's Minister of the Environment, Diana Buzoianu, the party led by Dominic Fritz called the PSD's Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan, to Parliament, in the Chamber of Deputies, on Monday at “Government Hour”.

The topic of the debate requested by the USR is “the presentation of topics of major interest for political, economic and social life: the plan of measures and concrete actions that the Ministry of Energy, together with Hidroelectrica, responsible for the administration of the Vidraru hydropower development, have taken to prevent the occurrence of such a situation and what are the actions undertaken at this moment to solve this problem of the crisis of the lack of drinking water”.

The request comes in the context where for approximately four months 50,000 people in Curtea de Argeș have been without drinking water. PNL leader Alina Gorghiu initially accused the Ministry of the Environment, led by USR, of not taking the necessary measures.

Bogdan Ivan will not come to the Parliament to participate in the debate to which he was called by USR, according to HotNews information.

In December, a simple motion against USR Minister Diana Buzoianu, also initiated by AUR and PACE, passed the Parliament, with PSD votes.