The Romanian government led by Viorica Dăncilă survived on Thursday a vote of no confidence launched against it by 163 MPs from three opposition parties, calling for the “dismissal of the puppet government of the felon Dragnea”.
While Dăncilă is the de jure Prime Minister of Romania since January this year, the real power is Liviu Dragnea, leader of the Social Democratic Party. He cannot be Prime Minister as he was convicted for vote rigging and corruption in two different cases, the first having a final verdict while the second is pending appeal.
In the end, 161 MPs voted for the censure and 3 against it, while 223 yes votes would have been required to pass the motion.
During the debate of the motion, Hunor Kelemen, President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) formulated sharp criticism against the government, but did not spare the opposition parties either.
He said that during their two years in power, the Social-Democrats (PSD) failed to deliver on the promised decentralization, several billions worth of European Union funds have been left unused for lack of suitable projects and a few days before the end of the year the finance ministry was still busy making emergency amendments to a half-baked budget.
“Perhaps the prime minister can convince the finance minister that Romania is not a test laboratory for all sorts of crazy ideas”, Kelemen said.
He also said that opposition parties were unable to come up with an alternative government program, but the RMDSZ would gladly help in devising one.
“…we assume the role of coordinator: we will finish the program by April so that the (next) vote of no confidence does not surprise you. And if by that time you don’t have a candidate for prime minister, we can also offer a proposal. (…) Otherwise everyone will think that the current situation is to your liking: while the PSD is governing, you point the finger at the RMDSZ and continue to play opposition”, Kelemen said.
