ROMANIA: Government falls after Social Democrats quit coalition in protest at sacking of minister

Record ID: 295846

  • Title: ROMANIA: Government falls after Social Democrats quit coalition in protest at sacking of minister
  • Date: 2nd October 2009
  • Summary: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (OCTOBER 1, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Romanian) POLITICAL ANALYST, STERIAN TANASE, SAYING: "Politicians do not care about this crisis because they are only thinking about the opposition and their competition for the presidential elections. I think they are going mad with all this and we can see that with the scandal from the last few days, which has
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Romania
  • Country: Romania
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6ZIGWQOSYWAEEFUULM0YCKGVY
  • Story Text: Romania's Social Democrats quit the country's coalition government on Thursday (October 1) in protest at the sacking of a minister.
    The move comes ahead of a November presidential election and has jolted the markets, raising the risk of failure to meet IMF aid terms.
    "All PSD ministers, supporting Dan Nica, are announcing their resignation from government," Social Democrat leader Mircea Geoana told reporters after an emergency party meeting.
    The centrist Democrat-Liberal (PD-L) party can rule alone for a few weeks but will have to win parliament's approval for new ministers to replace the Social Democrats, making the support of centrist and ethnic Hungarian opposition parties key to their survival.
    Even if their minority government survives, they face an uphill battle to win support for difficult fiscal reforms that have riled workers from Romania's vast public sector.
    The coalition went sour this week when Prime Minister Emil Boc suddenly sacked interior minister Dan Nica -- a Social Democrat -- and proposed a replacement from his own party.
    On Thursday President Traian Basescu, who has links to the PD-L, approved Nica's dismissal.
    Political analyst, Sterian Tanase believes the political stand-off reflects tactical manoeuvring by the two ruling parties before the presidential ballot, rather than policy differences.
    "Politicians do not care about this crisis because they are only thinking about the opposition and their competition for the presidential elections. I think they are going mad with all this and we can see that with the scandal from the last few days, which has nothing to do with the problems that ordinary people have," he told Reuters Television.
    Economists said the break-up of the coalition put in question Romania's ability to meet fiscal targets set by the IMF in return for the 20 billion euro aid package it granted Romania this year.
    Romania has gone through a sharp economic reversal over the past year as a result of the global financial crisis. It shifted from being the European Union's fastest-growing economy to one in dire need of IMF aid to combat deep recession.
    "The social situation in Romania will worsen over the next months, and next year will be very difficult, " Tanase said.
    "The Government will be even more paralysed and incapable of reacting because they will have no more excuses, like presidential elections. They will only be left with economic problems. All the conditions for deepening the crisis have been set up now: using IMF loans for salaries and pensions, but no investments. Dealing with the crisis has been postponed until after the presidential elections," he added.
    Opposition parties made little immediate comment about their potential support for a minority government, with the biggest Liberal Party (PNL) calling for a new cabinet made up of technocrats.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register