How can the president of the state be suspended and why is Nicușor Dan not worried about AUR's threats

AUR brings back the idea of ​​suspending the president, but the approach has minimal chances of success, since there are not enough votes in Parliament from non-affiliated and sovereignist parties. George Simion's formation also used this theme during the previous mandate, rather as a tool for political promotion.

The president says that Romania has other problems now PHOTO Inquam Photos / George Călin

The head of AUR, George Simion, appreciates that the president Nicusor Dan “meets all the necessary conditions to be suspended from office”arguing that he saw “serious interference by Nicusor Dan in justice“. The statements of the president of the AUR came in the context of the presentation “Report on the Coup d'état in Romania – November 24, 2024 – May 18, 2025″during an event organized by the party at the Parliament.

But the head of state, Nicușor Dan, does not feel threatened by AUR. “It is a very serious matter to ask for the suspension of a president voted by several million people. You must have some arguments to ask for suspension or even revocation. It doesn't worry me at all. There are other things that should worry us: the deficit, economic recovery, tensions in society, but not that.” Nicusor Dan said.

What is the procedure

The procedure for suspending the president is a complicated one, which requires a majority in Parliament, which the Opposition does not currently have, in the context of the broad majority of the PNL, PSD, USR, UDMR and minorities coalition.

According to the Constitution, “the proposal for suspension from office can be initiated by at least one third of the number of deputies and senators and is brought to the attention of the President without delay”.

Later, “the president of Romania can be suspended from office by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, in a joint session, with the vote of the majority of the deputies and senators, after consulting the Constitutional Court”, and the head of state “can give explanations to the Parliament regarding the facts attributed to him”also states the Fundamental Law of the state.

Finally, “if the suspension proposal is approved, within 30 days at most a referendum is organized to dismiss the President”.

What the numbers look like

AUR currently has 62 deputies and 28 senators, SOS has 15 deputies, POT has 14 deputies, the PACE-Întâi Romania group has 11 senators, the unaffiliated deputies are 16, and the unaffiliated senators are 6. That means in total there are 152 senators and deputies who do not belong to the government. It is a sufficient number to bring the request for suspension to the plenary session of the Parliament, but not enough for the suspension to be approved.

To pass the vote of the Parliament, a majority is needed. There are 464 parliamentarians in total, that is, the initiative needs 233 votes. The number of parliamentarians that AUR can attract is lower than when the party initiated the procedure to suspend the president in January 2025, against Klaus Iohannis.

Attempts to impeach the president

After several years of AUR using the topic as a promotion and campaign theme, in January, before the last presidential election, the party still came closest to suspending the former head of state.

With the USR vote, willing at that time to support the initiative, it would have reached a difference of only 12 votes. That is, with only a few more MPs from the parties of the government at the time or from the UDMR, the AUR would have been able to suspend the former head of state and trigger the procedure for his dismissal. Klaus Iohannis resigned on February 10, at a time when the continuation of the procedure no longer made sense, considering that the referendum would have coincided with the period of the presidential elections.

However, former president Traian Băsescu went through the entire procedure twice, being suspended from office. The first referendum took place in 2007, and then it was rejected with the vote of over 6 million Romanians. The second referendum that could have led to the impeachment of the president took place in 2012, during his second term, but was invalidated because it did not meet the necessary quorum, having a turnout of 46.24%.