Romania’s government in deadlock as coalition pulls support, ministers resign

PM Sorin Grindeanu said Wednesday night he will not resign as the ruling coalition comprising the Social Democractic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) said it was stopped providing support for the government following internal decisions.

Both PSD head Liviu Dragnea and ALDE president Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said that all ministers have provided their resignations. However, no resignation has been submitted officially to the government for approval.

Meanwhile, the PM said that he wants to act “responsibly towards Romania and the party he represents”, meaning the PSD.

Grindeanu said he will resign only after president Klaus Iohannis will agree to nominate a new PM from the ranks of the PSD following consultations with all parties.

The decision of the ruling coalition to withdraw the support for Grindeanu’s team came after a review of the government’s activity in the first six months of mandate.

Dragnea said the review shows that 60 percent of the targets included in the governing program were not met by Grindeanu’s cabinet.

He cited delays on the launch of the sovereign wealth fund and the prevention law as some of the reasons for which Grindeanu has to go. The PSD leadership also accused Grindeanu of failing to communicate properly with all ministers and to pursue reforms in the public sector.

The PM challenged the review made by the PSD and said that he did a good job. He explained that the economy grew at the faster rate in the European Union in the first months of the year and that 110,000 new jobs have been created in this period. Grindeanu said that the ruling coalition had accused him of failing to strenghten ties with Russia.

“This review shows that the direction is good but the implementation pace is low,” said Dragnea, who added that the coalition will meet on Thursday to discuss the appointment of a new PM.