Romania’s Social Democrats, far-right party AUR reject Siegfried Mureșan government

Social Democratic leader Sorin Grindeanu announced his party’s “firm, assumed and irreversible” decision not to vote for the Mureșan Government, which he labeled as a “new version of the Bolojan government.”

The announcement, made at a press conference on Monday, September 28, comes after the PSD National Political Council unanimously voted for Social Democratic MPs not to vote for the government proposed by the center-right alliance between the National Liberal Party (PNL), Save Romania Union (USR), and the Hungarian minority party UDMR.

“PSD reaffirms its desire to govern. We will not give in to any kind of media pressure or political blackmail, and we will not be intimidated by those who, brazenly, have filled the public space in recent days with fake news and accused us of all kinds of inventions just to force a PSD vote for this government in Parliament,” Grindeanu said.

According to the PSD leader, Mureșan’s governing program is “an insult to economic logic” because “it contains no public policy or any measure to reduce poverty.”

In turn, AUR president George Simion announced that his party will not vote for the Mureșan cabinet. Instead, he said that he has appointed a negotiating team with all parties to reach the formation of a stable government.

Unlike the Social Democrats, AUR representatives will not be present for the investiture vote, according to the party leader.

“In recent months enormous pressure has been put on us to betray the trust you have placed in us and vote for a puppet government. We will not be present in committees, in plenary, and we will not vote for a Mureșan government or the one that follows it – Nazare, because that would mean betraying the trust you have placed in us,” Simion said in a message posted on Facebook.

According to him, it is AUR’s duty to be part of the government and “get the country through these difficult times.” He also referred to the possibility of snap elections if a government cannot be formed.

“If Nicușor Dan does not call elections, as required by the Constitution, he should be suspended. We must gather the necessary number of signatures. We must have the votes in Parliament, but above all we must have you behind us, millions of Romanians who must no longer remain silent,” the AUR leader said on the day Parliament began hearings for the ministers in the Mureșan government.