Romania’s hard-right opposition AUR party has a shot at government after the collapse of centrist coalition.
The AUR party led by George Simion and the center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) announced Monday they would file a motion of no-confidence motion against the government led by Liberal Ilie Bolojan.
Meanwhile, centrist President Nicușor Dan is holding discussions Monday with the leaders of the former coalition which fell apart last week after the PSD quit. He said last week he was opposed to a PSD-AUR coalition.
“Following several rounds of discussions, it was decided that Petrișor Peiu and I would deal with the technical side of a joint motion of censure,” said Neacșu, former deputy prime minister in the Bolojan government.
Asked about the likelihood of a PSD-AUR government, Neacșu said: “Any journey begins with the first step.” He said the two parties had not made a formal pact.
However, he also said that PSD still supports the old governing coalition, minus the prime minister who has introduced austerity measures to cut Romania’s ballooning budget deficit, the largest in the European Union.
Peiu said AUR’s political objective was to trigger early elections. It is the second-biggest party in the Parliament but tops opinion polls.
Simion who also spoke Monday said he wanted to reduce the number of lawmakers in Parliament, eliminate subsidies for political parties and organizeg two-round local elections, instead of the current first past the post.
Asked about a AUR-PSD governing coalition, he said: “We are willing to ensure any government that can generate fair elections.”
