A PNL leader claims that he has done all the calculations in Parliament and has news for the PSD: “No matter what he does, Bolojan remains prime minister”
PNL Vice President Alexandru Muraru claimed on Wednesday, in a post on Facebook, that Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan keeps his position even if the Social Democratic Party (PSD) withdraws its ministers from the Government.
“Why does Ilie Bolojan remain prime minister, regardless of what PSD does. PSD is going to withdraw its ministers from the Bolojan Cabinet. Some claim that this would automatically lead to the fall of the Government and the prime minister. This thesis is constitutionally wrong. The withdrawal of PSD ministers does not mean that the prime minister changes. It means that their positions become vacant and that, for a maximum of 45 days, the interim is provided by the other ministers remaining in the coalition”, Muraru wrote.
The Liberal vice-president says that a government's mandate ends “in two ways and two only”: the adoption of a motion of no confidence or the resignation of the prime minister.
“There is no mechanism by which the rejection of ministers proposed to replace those who resigned would automatically lead to the dismissal of the prime minister or the entire Government”, he argued, adding that “the constitutional logic is clear and leaves no room for interpretation”.
Muraru also explained that, at the end of the 45 days of the interim, the prime minister presents himself in Parliament only with the list of new ministers.
“Parliament votes only for these ministers, not for the prime minister and not for the entire Cabinet. If Parliament rejects the proposed new ministers, the Government does not fall. The interim period for the vacant posts is extended,” he said.
The calculation for a motion of no confidence
Muraru also says that the only way to dismiss the Government is a motion of censure that meets the parliamentary majority.
“PSD (130) + AUR (90) = 220 votes, insufficient to pass a motion of censure. It would require the support of the majority of small groups (SOS, POT, PACE, unaffiliated — in total about 62 parliamentarians), which is uncertain and difficult to obtain,” the liberal believes.
“Ilie Bolojan remains prime minister as long as he does not resign and as long as he is not dismissed through a no-confidence motion that passes the vote in Parliament,” concluded Muraru.
Political crisis
Romania entered into a political crisis on Monday, after PSD, a member of the governing coalition, decided to withdraw its support for Prime Minister Bolojan.
In an event called “The moment of truth”, organized at the Parliament Palace, the vote cast by the social democrats was overwhelmingly in favor of withdrawing political support for Ilie Bolojan: 97.7% “for” and 2.3% “against”.
On Monday evening, after a meeting of the National Liberal Party, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced that he will continue to exercise his mandate.
The PSD leadership established in the internal forums that the social-democratic ministers should submit their resignations from the Government on Thursday.
According to PSD sources who spoke to HotNews, before resigning, PSD ministers will delegate their duties to state secretaries in the ministry from PNL, USR or UDMR, so that the government is not blocked.
The sources also stated that the PSD will inform the Parliament and the Presidential Administration that the political composition of the Government has changed, and will give the Prime Minister a few days to go to the Parliament to ask for a new vote of confidence. A censure motion will be submitted in case of a refusal of the prime minister to come and ask for the vote and not before May 1, the sources also stated.
PSD has a deputy prime minister – Marian Neacșu – and six ministers in the Bolojan Government: Radu Marinescu (Justice), Florin Manole (Labor), Alexandru Rogobete (Health), Florin Barbu (Agriculture), Bogdan Ivan (Energy) and Ciprian Șerban (Transport).
The Secretary General of the Government, Radu Oprea, will also resign, according to HotNews sources.
