Fighting to save his reform-minded government, Premier Ilie Bolojan said Tuesday that a motion of no-confidence filed against him was spearheaded by local ‘barons’ upset they no longer had access to public funds.
The prime minster blamed the Social Democrats who walked out of the coalition last month and submitted the motion with a far-right party over austerity measures which cut funds to local leaders.
Bolojan undertook unpopular austerity measures to reduce the budget deficit, of 7.9%, the biggest in the European Union and cut spending to PSD’s local support network.
The Bolojan is expected to fall, followed by tough negotiations to form a new government.
Defending his tenure, Bolojan, 57, told lawmakers: “How did we get here? There were three phases. In a first phase, in the first months, the PSD chose to play the role of the opposition within the government,” he said. “Throughout this period, I have been patient, I pretended not to see what everyone sees, that I do not hear, hoping and believing that, for our country to move forward, that it is worth bearing, it is worth losing, but it was not enough.”
“We started to work on reducing state spending, and we generated the anger of the local barons, who could no longer use the state piggy bank as a reserve for projects that weren’t covered, because they were not competent.”
Romanian pro-EU PM faces no-confidence motion, uncertainty ahead
