Romania’s prime minister-designate Adrian Vestea on Monday failed to secure the votes he needed to invest his government, prolonging the country’s six-week political crisis.
After a day fraught with last-minute negotiations, demands and uncertainties, Vestea, 52, fell well short of the votes he needed from the opposition far right despite making a last-minute personal visit to the headquarters of the AUR party, Parliament’s second-largest party.
His government won 189 votes with 23 against. It needed 233 votes.
Shortly before the vote, AUR party leader George Simion demanded that Vestea came to the party offices to negotiate votes, which he did, but it wasn’t enough. Simion also demanded that President Nicusor Dan stopped calling the populist party ‘extremist’ in exchange for votes.
President Dan did not make a statement prior to the vote. AUR lawmakers walked out of Parliament in the late Monday vote leaving Vestea to fail.
Dan nominated the rebel Liberal Party member, Vestea, a county council president and former minister, last week without consulting the party which voted against joining a new coalition.
Analysts said was an attempt to rebuild a pro-European government to tackle the largest budget deficit in the European Union but also accused the president of trying to sabotage party leader Ilie Bolojan, the outgoing prime minister.
Vestea was widely seen as a compromise candidate, parachuted from the provinces to take on the unpopular role of prime minister. At one point he called himself “a pawn.”
Whoever the new prime minister is faces the immediate job of slashing the budget deficit, the largest in the European Union, ensuring Romania can access billions of euros of EU funds and reassuring Romanian and international investors.
The four-party pro-European coalition government collapsed on May 5 when the biggest partner, the center-left Social Democrats, joined forces with the opposition far right to oust it in a no-confidence vote.
Since then, the Liberals have said they would no longer join a ruling coalition with the Social Democrats and have voted to exclude Vestea and any party member who chooses to support or join his government.
The Social Democrats (PSD), said they would join the same pro-European coalition but without Bolojan. On Sunday, they decided to back Vestea’s government, which included nine PSD ministers
Other junior coalition partners, the centrist Save Romania Union and the ethnic Hungarian UDMR party also did not support Vestea’s cabinet and he sought votes from independents the far right opposition and minorities.
The ongoing political crisis could block access to billions of EU funds and raise borrowing costs. Romania’s next parliamentary elections are for 2028.
Vestea governing plan
- SAFE (Security Action for Europe) program: The allocation of 16.68 billion euros for the endowment of the Army, revitalization of the defense industry and dual-use infrastructure;
- Joining the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Aligning with developed economies’ standards to increase investor confidence and improve country ratings;
- Completion of the PNRR: Strict fulfillment of the remaining milestones in order to fully attract the non-reimbursable component;
- Absorption of European funds: Acceleration of regional and cohesion programs, given that the current absorption rate is only 31.49%.
Two UK Eurofighters scrambled after Russian attack near Romanian border
