LIVE “If Mr. Bolojan matches with anyone, it is with Liviu Dragnea”. Sorin Grindeanu now talks about the censure motion and PSD's next steps
PSD President Sorin Grindeanu offers, in an interview for Antena 3, from 8:00 p.m., details related to the efforts of the social democrats to ensure the success of the censure motion directed against the Bolojan government. At the same time, Grindeanu will specify what his party's plans are after the possible success of the motion.
HotNews transmits the main statements of the PSD president in LIVE TEXT format:
-(what is the difference between your situation in 2017, when PSD will withdraw support, and the situation now?) I was then fighting with a man, Liviu Dragnea. Now we are talking about a man just like Liviu Dragnea from then, with 85% negative confidence, who is leading Romania in the wrong direction and which matches Liviu Dragnea from then.
– We talked about the disastrous management that Ilie Bolojan does as prime minister. It is possible to govern in Romania without his rule. Highways can be built without him being prime minister. There is life after Tuesday, and for us it must be a better life. Like Dragnea then, a single man tries to control political life. I understood the call of the president who asked to de-escalate the public discourse.
-(Is AUR an extremist party?) I saw before this joint motion all kinds of statements from Ilie Bolojan, Dominic Fritz, representatives of PNL and USR, some marshmallows thrown at those from AUR in the desire to attract them to their side. What I have done is that I have made a parliamentary approach that has proven itself, so far one with support with 254 signatures collected. We did an internal consultation in the party that went on for several weeks, with an up-to-date X-ray of the situation we are in and a vote of 98%. There was a risk that there would be two motions in the Parliament: one by AUR, another by PSD, which would annihilate each other
The PSD is holding “principle discussions” with the parliamentarians
PSD leaders met on Thursday in a meeting of the National Political Bureau to determine the last details regarding the censure motion that will be debated and voted on on Tuesday, May 5. They say they are sure the no-confidence motion will pass, some even that it will get more votes than signatures.
Until next week, each county organization is to do its “census”, in order to have a clear situation of the parliamentarians who could be absent from the vote and those who will be present at the plenary session, according to HotNews information.
At the moment, the social democrats take into account only one absence – of Senator Felix Stroe, who will be absent due to medical problems.
At the end of today's meeting, Marian Neacșu, the one who, by the way, announced the submission of the censure motion in a joint press conference with Petrișor Peiu, said that negotiations had been held with other parliamentarians for “two or three days”.
“We are discussing with the parliamentarians strictly on principle,” said the former PSD deputy prime minister in a press statement given in the halls of the Parliament.
PNL is counting on defections among the signatories of the motion
In the government camp, Gabriel Andronache, who is the leader of the PNL deputies, said on Tuesday morning through a post on Facebook that the liberals are making “all the democratic steps in the Parliament to support the Bolojan Government and determine the failure of the censure motion”.
“Not everyone who signs a motion votes it. There are parliamentarians who were forced to sign the motion, even if they don't agree with PSD and AUR throwing the country into chaos,” warns Andronache.
He also says there are also social democratic MPs who oppose the motion. “They have the opportunity to express themselves at the vote, because the vote is secret and cannot be controlled by the party leadership. It is not at all clear that this motion will get the necessary number of votes on May 5,” adds the liberal.
The scenario of PNL entering the opposition
On the other hand, the scenario of joining the opposition is not completely ruled out by the PNL. Even Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan declared in an interview on Rock FM that he will build an “alternative” for “Modern Romania” if the motion submitted against his PSD and AUR Government goes to the vote on Tuesday.
“Considering the votes that the National Liberal Party took from the country, I will build an alternative in such a way that modern Romania knows that there is a political force that is able to create conditions for development in Romania, governing honestly, correctly, creating good conditions for people and respecting the citizens of the country”, declared the prime minister, without giving details about this “alternative” he spoke of.
The first vice-president of the party, Ciprian Ciucu, also spoke about the opposition version on Digi24. “We have only two options: a minority government or the opposition. I exclude new talks with the PSD. They have already gone too far, they have offended every PNL member with their statements”, concluded Ciprian Ciucu.
What does parliamentary arithmetic say?
At the moment, PSD and AUR together have 219 votes. PSD has 127 senators and deputies, and AUR has 90. The two parties still need 16 votes to pass the censure motion. The other opposition parties (SOS Romania, POT and PACE) gather 41 votes, if all the parliamentarians who are part of these groups vote for the motion, it would lead to a total of 258 parliamentarians.
Unaffiliated parliamentarians who left POT and SOS Romania gather 22 votes. Victoria Stoiciu is also unaffiliated after resigning from the PSD, but she does not support the censure motion.
PNL, USR and UDMR, the parties that announced that they continue to support Ilie Bolojan, have only 164 MPs in Parliament out of the 233 required for a majority. The 17 deputies of the National Minorities are added to them. That would lead to a total of 181 votes, still insufficient to support Bolojan in Parliament.
